After the Eve Wars
by Raberba girl
Summary: After the Eve Wars, the Gundam boys find themselves battling random evil organizations, aliens, and even each other on occasion. Silly humor, no slash.
1. Part 1: A New Enemy

**Note: I have posted this fic before, but this time, I plan for it to stay up.**

After the Eve Wars...

A Gundam Wing fanfic by Raberba girl

**Introduction:** "Eve Wars" - the name given to the series of battles fought in A.C. 195, so named because they took place on Christmas Eve. The battleship Libra was poised against the stars, ready to destroy Earth. The five young Gundam pilots were confronted by an army of mobile dolls, their movements masterminded by Dorothy Catalonia. The boys fought their way onto Libra, and Quatre confronted Dorothy, who challenged him to a fencing duel. Would she win with her mind enhanced by the ZERO system, or would Quatre win on his natural abilities alone? Quatre was wounded at the end of the fight, and he and Dorothy watched as Trowa, Quatre's fellow Gundam pilot, disabled the ZERO system. Trowa and Quatre made their escape, leaving Dorothy with some food for thought.

But what if things had gone differently? What if, as I wrote in an old, lost fic, Quatre and Dorothy had exchanged silent love-notes behind Trowa's back? What if they knocked Trowa out with a piece of machinery, driving him insane? What if they eloped, leaving Trowa to laugh maniacally and swear revenge...? That, dear reader, is the inspiration for this epic in silly humor.

**Part 1 - A New Enemy**

"Miss Une, ma'am!"

"Yes, what is it?"

"President of the Preventer Corps., ma'am!"

"What?"

"Lady of Peace!"

"What do you want?!"

"Former Colonel of the Treize--"

WHAM

Lady Une watched in disgust as her subordinate crumpled to the ground, then dropped her frying pan and bent to pick up the report he'd been holding in his hand. Her eyes widened, and she immediately whirled to punch in buttons on the telecomm.

"Sailor soldiers!" she yelled at the faces of the former Gundam pilots, Noin, Milliardo, etc., "We have a new enemy! LET'S GO!" She switched off the commlink and ran off in search of a crescent moon she could stick on her forehead.

---------------------------

"What was that all about?" Wufei muttered in disgust. "Crazy woman, goes hysterical at the first sign of trouble. It's probably just some new faction with a stupid name that's blown something up so they can start a war and make a billion dollars selling new weapons, and only we, the heroic, powerful, strong, seemingly immortal, bishouneney Gundam pilots, have any hope of stopping them."

"Maybe," his wife assured him. "But then, maybe not."

Wufei turned to her suddenly, a suspicious look on his face. He continued to stare at her very hard until she put down her tea cup.

"What?"

"Woman, explain this to me again. You are _dead_. How is it that suddenly you are alive and well and sitting there drinking tea?"

"Oh Wufei, I have told you a hundred times," Meiran said patiently, though her eyes glittered with hidden irritation. "I _didn't_ die, you only _thought_ I did, because the tea you were drinking right before that battle had been bought from Quatre Raberba Winner, who poisons the tea his company sells, and so you were drugged and your brains were addled, and you _thought_ I died, even though I really didn't."

"Oh." Wufei was silent, thinking this over, still frowning. Then, finally, he raised his head and said resolutely, "I do not believe you."

"Yes you do."

"Well, if you put it that way, I suppose you are right."

Wufei turned back to the commlink, and so did not see Meiran suddenly stand up and fell him with a swift blow to the head. Meiran ripped off her face, revealing another beneath it.

That of Trowa Barton.

Trowa laughed wildly, with a slightly demented edge to his voice, and gave Wufei a little kick. "Idiot! Of COURSE your wife is dead! Don't need this mask anymore, I have a hostage now! QUATRE! I TOLD you you would pay! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

---------------------------

Lady Une - the crescent moon sticker blazing from her forehead - looked around the briefing room. Around the table were gathered Heero, Duo, Quatre, all forty of the Maganacs, Sally, Zechs, and Noin. There was also a strange man with light brown hair and forked eyebrows who called himself Lord Tres, but he was standing in the corner and nobody really noticed him.

"Are we all here?" Lady Une asked impatiently.

"No! My invisible friend's car broke down and he isn't here yet!" Duo yelled frantically. Lady Une glared at him, and he broke down into a grin as everyone else stifled snickers.

Trying to get back in control, Lady Une jumped up on the table and started pacing back and forth agitatedly. "Scouts, we have a problem. Our former comrade, Sailor Heavyarms, is threatening the peace of the Earth, and has kidnapped our dear Sailor Altron to use as hostage. We think he's after you, Sandrock." Quatre gasped, then burst into tears, then promptly forgot why he was crying and stopped. "We must stop him from threatening this fragile peace we have all worked so hard to build!"

"Um, Une? Why do you have a moon on your head?" Noin spoke up, and Une growled in irritation.

"There! It's off!" she snapped, reaching up to rip off the sticker and fling it away, "Is that better?"

"MINE! OW!" Duo and Quatre had both dived for the sticker as soon as they saw it flutter to the tabletop, and the act of plowing into each other had ended up giving both a good bonk on the head.

"All right," Lady Une continued, trying to ignore them, "Agent 04, what happened during your last encounter with our former Agent 03?"

"Oww...what?"

"Trowa! Your last encounter! What happened!"

"Oh. Well...it was on Libra. Dorothy and I dueled, and she stabbed me, and when Trowa was trying to shut down the mobile doll system, Dorothy and I sort of...well..."

"TELL US!" Une bellowed in his face, the sound knocking him out of his chair.

"We knocked him out and eloped! Okay?! You don't have to YELL!"

Dorothy suddenly ran in, waving something around in the air. "Quatre sweetie! You forgot your lunch!" She threw a picnic basket on the table, then sat down and joined the meeting.

"Has anyone besides me noticed that Treize is standing there in the corner?" Heero asked, pointing. No one heard him.

"We have to stop him!" Lady Une said. "Because he desires revenge on 04, I say we must sacrifice Quatre as a peace offering!"

"WHAT?!" Quatre yelled, but before he could say anything else in protest, the rest of the Preventers formed a screaming mob and dragged him out of the building.

Behind them the vid-screen flickered, and then Trowa's evil face appeared, a bound Wufei just visible on the floor behind him. "HAHAHAHA! Preventers! I have Wufei, your Agent 05! If you do not surrender right now and hand over the Raberba brat, I will kill him! HAHAHAHAHA!" The screen blinked out, as Trowa had obviously not realized he was speaking to an almost empty room.

'Lord Tres' stepped out of his corner. "Finally, they are gone... While they are distracted, I shall infiltrate this Preventer base and TAKE OVER THE WORLD! I am the legendary Treize Khushrenada! I was meant to rule! You will cower before me, slaves!" And with that and a parting villainous laugh, Treize swept out of the room, his long blue cape flapping along behind him.

to be continued...


	2. Part 2: Rise of Power

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 2 - Rise of Power**

Wufei, quite horrified, was staring at his captor, who was dancing around the room and singing to a pair of earphones. Just then the doorbell to Trowa's secret base, which was in actuality Wufei's house, rang.

"I'LL GET IT!" Trowa yelled while running to answer the door, his earphones still on. Wufei wriggled around a bit, trying to get free, but to no avail.

At the door, Trowa was greeted by a mob of smiling Preventers bearing a harassed-looking, tied-up blonde.

"Hi! I'm Meiran, Wufei's wife!"

"Hello, Meiran," Sally greeted. "To halt your plot to take over the world, we surrender and give you this prisoner as a peace offering."

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" everyone yelled, dumping Quatre on the ground and then heading back to the base, forgetting that they had come to rescue Wufei.

Trowa laughed villainously, then picked up Quatre, slung him over his shoulder, and carried him to the room where Wufei was being held. Which happened to be the kitchen.

"Tea?"

"Yes. Thank you," Quatre replied. Trowa prepared some tea, still humming as he waited, then politely served his second prisoner a cup of the steaming liquid. Quatre, unable to accept it, just looked at him.

Pretending not to notice, Trowa began, "My dear Quatre. Do you happen to remember a time, oh, let's say a few months ago, when the two of us, which is to say you and I, were stationed on a large space battleship called - _Libra_?"

Quatre winced. "Um...yeah?" he replied in a small voice.

Trowa suddenly whirled and threw the knife, which imbedded itself in the floor a mere two millimeters away from Quatre's head. The unfortunate youth made a small squeaking noise and tried to keep one terrified eye on the drawer of knives, one on the katana leaning in a corner, and one fixed on Trowa. He ended up cross-eyed.

By the time he'd gotten his vision straightened out, he became aware of Trowa kneeling next to him, pressing another knife against his throat. Nervous about getting blood on his new kitchen floor, Wufei made some sounds of displeasure, but was silenced when Trowa shot him a threatening glare.

"Now then. I have decided to give you two options. Either you can accept your punishment for what you did to me on Libra and let me kill you, or you can apologize and join me. What do you say?"

Quatre said frantically, "I'm sorry! I'll join you, I'll join you!"

Trowa gave a twisted smile. "Excellent. BWAHAHAHA!"

---------------------------

"Attention! I am Lord Tres, and I have taken over this Preventer base! Everyone shall now do what I say!"

A bunch of Preventers ran into the office where Treize was broadcasting his message and shot at him. Treize dove behind the desk, shooting back; the firing continued back and forth, until Treize suddenly caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye and got an idea.

For a moment, the Preventers halted their fire in surprise as their enemy suddenly stood up from behind the desk. That moment was all Treize needed. He pointed the object that he had found at the men and pressed a button, then burst into laughter when everything suddenly froze.

"HA HA HA! Never underestimate the power of the VCR remote control's _pause button!"_ So saying, he tossed aside the remote and skipped out, mockingly flicking out of his way a bullet which hung suspended in midair.

Running down hallways, his mind raced as he tried to think of a more suitable base, but the Preventer building was the only choice he had right now. Then he suddenly smacked into something, fell down, and started to cry over a scraped knee. When several shadows fell over him, however, he stopped crying and looked up, into the faces of the group of Preventers who were returning from Wufei's house.

He gulped, until Duo yelled, "Hi, Treizey! Man, we ain't seen you in a while! Yo, how're you doin'?" Treize managed a weak smile as Agent 02 helped him to his feet, while everyone else stared at him in confusion.

"I _told_ you he was at our meeting," Heero muttered.

"But I thought he was _dead!"_ Lady Une cried.

Treize sweatdropped as everyone stared at him, expecting an explanation. "Well...heheh, um, see, well...uh...I only _pretended_ I was killed, but I really wasn't, and, well, you know how us bad guys are--"

"How do you PRETEND to be blown up?" Lady Une yelled.

Treize panicked; he whipped out his gun and fired at a random person, then ran off as everyone but Heero either gasped, or screamed and ran to Duo. Heero went in search of Treize.

"He's been shot!"

"He's losing blood, fast!"

"We've gotta get him to a hospital!"

"He's gonna die!"

"I want his big-screen TV!"

"I want his braid!"

"_I_ get his braid! I'm his friend/girlfriend/fiancee/wife!"

"You idiots; shut up and start trying to get him help!"

Grumbling, "Okay, okay..."

---------------------------

"There's no way out, Treize!" Heero yelled, pointing his gun at the man standing at the edge of the roof.

"Who says?" Treize stalled, giving the ground far below a nervous glance. Heero fought the urge to sweatdrop. That was a Duo thing; Heero Yuy did NOT sweatdrop.

"You're standing on the edge of a building, without a parachute, and with a loaded gun pointed at you by a merciless killing machine. I dunno, can _you_ see any ways out of this mess, Treize?"

Treize hesitated. "Well...no. But fear not! I have returned from the dead once, watch me do it again!"

Heero rolled his eyes. "I'd rather not, thanks..." He was too late, though. Treize had already jumped off the roof and was now plummeting down to what was, presumably, his death.

Heero stared for a minute, then cursed. After kicking at the ground, or rather, the ceiling, he went back to see if Duo was dead or alive, preferably the former.

---------------------------

Duo lay in the crisp, sterile whiteness of the hospital bed, his breathing shallow, his eyes closed, and the hand that Hilde held was limp.

She sat alone in the room with him, her face streaked with tears. "Oh Duo," she whispered, "please, don't leave me...I-I've been wanting to tell you this for so long...and now that - it's too late, I finally get up the guts to actually say it." She choked back a sob, and Duo struggled to open his eyes.

"Hilde..."

"Sssh," she soothed, "don't try to talk if it hurts too much. But Duo...I-I love you."

He tried to smile, but it took too much energy. "I love you too...Hil...de..."

Hilde couldn't keep the sobs back anymore. She threw her arms around Duo's neck and hugged him tightly, forgetting to worry about if it would hurt him or not. "Oh Duo...all this time we had together...I should have told you sooner. I've known I loved you for so long, but I was afraid that you didn't feel the same way...oh Duo, don't leave me!"

"Hey," he said weakly, hugging her as best he could, "don't cry...it'll be fine... Just to know that - you love me is precious...enough..." He struggled to draw in his next breath, unable to continue.

"Oh Duo..."

"Hilde..."

"Duo..."

"Hilde..."

"My love..."

"My dearest..."

"My precious one..."

"My angel..."

"My imp..."

"My sweet one..."

"My darling..."

"My dove..."

"My delight..."

"My blue-haired pixie..."

"My violet-eyed scamp..."

"My petite fairy..."

"My braided baka..."

"My spunky, bright-eyed doll..."

"My beloved Shinigami..."

"My lady of death..."

"My lord of death..."

"My naïve little Ozzie..."

"My cute little G-boy..."

"My adorable girl with the same dub voice as Noin..."

"My cute bishounen with the same dub voice as Rattrap..."

"I love you..."

"I love you too..."

"I love you more..."

"I love you better..."

"No, _I_ love you better..."

"Bet you don't..."

"Bet I do..."

"Nuh-uh..."

"Uh-huh..."

"Nuh-uh..."

"Uh-huh..."

"Your mom."

"_Your_ mom."

"Yours."

"I don't have a mom."

"Shut up."

A few minutes later she felt him relax, his skin growing cold. She jerked her head up and then burst into tears when she saw his closed eyes and a slight smile, the last smile, on a face that would never smile at her again.

"DUO!"

to be continued...

A/N: Now come on, I'm not going to _really_ kill off my favorite character in chapter 2 of 20. Bear with me, people.


	3. Part 3: Life in the Chang House

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 3 - Life in the Chang House**

"I do NOT need a guard!" Wufei yelled. Trowa had finally untied him, but insisted that Quatre be with him at all times.

"That's right. You don't need a guard - IF you sign the pact and become one of us," Trowa said seriously, nodding his head to the headphones.

"All right. All RIGHT!" Wufei yelled. "I swear on the blood passed to me from my honorable ancestors that I shall not betray you!"

Trowa nodded. "Yes. And now yet another has commenced to join our fold...bwahahahahahaha!" He then walked out of the room. It was his turn to do the laundry.

---------------------------

Dorothy hummed as she washed dishes. There weren't many now that her husband Quatre had been sacrificed to a madman for the sake of world peace. But, hey, less work for her. Suddenly, she heard a knock at the front door.

Upon answering it, she found a very bedraggled Treize standing on her doorstep. "Please...help me..." he gasped, before collapsing at her feet.

She stared at him for a minute, then sighed and dragged him in. Hey, it could be fun being right-hand woman to the next would-be dictator of the 'World Nation' once again.

---------------------------

"Um, Truth."

With an evil grin, "Okay...who's your biggest crush!"

Both Quatre and Wufei stared at Trowa in astonishment and disgust. "Trowa...I'm _married_...I don't have a 'crush,' I'm in _love_ with her! Dorothy Catalonia, duh!"

Trowa shrugged. "Whatever. Okay Quatre, your turn."

"How long do we have to play this foolish, weakling game?" Wufei complained.

"Pipe down over there, Brother Altron, don't forget who's leader here."

Wufei gritted his teeth. "Yes, Father Heavyarms."

Trowa laughed villainously, then Quatre took his turn. "Okay...uh, Wufei, Truth or Dare?"

"Dare!"

"O-kay...um, I guess I dare you to - uh - abduct me and escape out of here and take me back to the Preventer base."

Wufei blinked, then grinned. Maybe the Raberba kid wasn't so dumb after all. He shot a glance at Trowa, who was humming Britney Spears while rocking back and forth. Barton, on the other hand...was.

"All right, then. Sorry, Father Heavyarms, but it's the rules of the game." Trowa nodded, then watched as Wufei knocked Quatre out, picked him up and walked out of the house, heading back to the Preventer base.

It wasn't until a few hours later that Trowa figured it out.

---------------------------

"Wufei! You're back!" Sally exclaimed as Wufei strode in and slung the unconscious Quatre onto the big table in the meeting room.

"Escape was possible due to my excellent physical abilities and the use of a plan conceived by my superior mental skills."

"I thought the escape plan was my idea," Quatre mumbled. Wufei knocked him out again.

"A lot has happened while you were gone," Lady Une said. "Treize infiltrated our base with intentions to take over, but he escaped and now we don't know where he is. And also, Duo died. So, tell us what you know about Trowa. Is he our enemy or ally?"

Wufei paused suspensefully, then shook his head. "I cannot tell. Brother Sandrock and I are sworn under an oath to reveal nothing about our great leader."

"Yeah."

Wufei knocked Quatre out again.

Everyone stared as Wufei once again picked up "Brother Sandrock" and walked out, heading back to his "great leader."

---------------------------

"Treizey honey, how are you feeling?"

"Mhm...huh...?"

"I rescued you, remember?"

"Uh...Dorothy?"

"Yes, sugar."

"Oh...you gonna join me?"

"Yup. We're gonna take over the world!"

"Yeah...I wanna...go sleep... _snore_"

"Humph. Men."

---------------------------

The crowd gasped in delighted horror. Catherine grinned; her last knife-throw had been dead on target, impacting the board just a hair's breadth away from the terrified-looking replacement's head.

"Hee hee, you're a _much_ more fun little doll than my brother Trowa ever was!"

The boy whimpered in terror.

"I ought to execute you for that statement, my dear sister, but now I am occupied with more important matters."

Catherine looked up to see her brother, flanked by two bodyguards: one heavily armed who looked like he meant business, and the other looking nervous at the sight of the knives in her hand. "Trowa!" she exclaimed. "Where have you been?"

Trowa didn't answer, he only snapped his fingers. Wufei stepped forward and knocked her out, and the slowly growing Society Of the Nanashi Clowns exited the big tent, to the consternation of the crowd and the tremendous relief of Trowa's replacement.

to be continued...


	4. Part 4: The Society Of the Nanashi Clow

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 4 - The Society Of the Nanashi Clowns**

Heero tugged uncomfortably at the collar of his uniform, then remembered that someone, Relena maybe, had told him it was his mission not to fidget in the scratchy outfit. He'd been a little bit suspicious, but a mission was a mission.

He immediately snapped his arm back to his side, squared his shoulders, and knocked loudly on the door to Lady Une's office.

"Come in."

He entered and stood at attention, ignoring her gesture at one of the comfortable-looking chairs. They were purple. Heero Yuy did not SIT in purple-colored chairs. "What do you want, Colonel Une?"

"You have a new assignment. Your job is to research and find out everything you can about our main enemies, namely Treize Khushrenada and Trowa Barton. I don't really care how you do it, but we need to find out location, motives, future plans, etc. And most importantly, _don't get caught_. Good luck."

Heero contemplated saluting, decided against it, and marched out, a man on a mission.

In her office, Lady Une was suddenly startled by a mad laugh that sounded from down the corridor outside.

---------------------------

"Um, so basically, Trowa's gone nuts, I'm getting wary of Wufei, and you and I are both trapped being the bad guys."

Catherine blinked at Quatre's rather confusing and fast-paced explanation, but she couldn't do much more, since she was tied up and gagged.

Trowa walked in. "Have you extracted any information from her yet?"

Quatre slowly counted to ten, then said, "Trowa, she's got a wad of cloth in her mouth. She can't really tell me anything, and if she could, I doubt she'd have much to say that would, er, help our cause."

Trowa blinked, then shrugged. "Yeah. If you say so, Quatre. So, you think Hilde would be a better source for information?"

"No! I'm saying I think you'd better untie Catherine and let us go!"

"Oh. Well, I can't do that, but you can take the sock out of her mouth, I guess."

Quatre started to reach for the gag, but then stopped when he saw the girl's eyes narrow dangerously. If he freed her mouth, she would very likely start off on a heated rant that might last for a very long time. "On second thought, maybe I'd better just leave that there."

---------------------------

The doorbell rang and Dorothy went to answer it, then stared in puzzlement when she saw Heero standing there dressed in a uniform and sunglasses.

"Yes?"

"I hear you're having problems with your television set."

"Um...no..."

"Well I'm here to take care of it, so just step aside, ma'am, and let me do my work."

"Actually, there's nothing wrong with our--"

Heero shoved past her and went to work, which was rather pointless because in addition to the TV having nothing wrong with it, the Winner mansion was stocked with hundreds of television sets.

After he had planted the bug, Heero chuckled wickedly, then left, as Dorothy stared after him with an annoyed look on her face.

---------------------------

A few minutes later, Heero was perched in a big leafy tree, studying his portable vid-screen. So far, the video bug he had planted in the Winner mansion was working well. He could now see and hear everything that was happening between his targets: Dorothy Catalonia and Treize Khushrenada.

---------------------------

Treize looked up as Dorothy entered his room.

"Khushrenada, you'd better watch it. Agent 01 of our main enemy has just infiltrated our base."

"What?"

"We're BUGGED."

"Oh. That's bad, right?"

"Man, what _happened_ to you? Did you hit your head or something?"

"Well, I fell off the big building and bounced...I _think_ I landed on my head."

"Hm, that explains it. So, what's our plan of action?"  
"Uh..."

Dorothy smacked her own forehead. "Do you mean to tell me that I've joined a guy set on conquering the colonies and the World Nation who has absolutely _no_ plan on how to do it?"

"I have a plan!" Treize said defensively. "Um-- we just need to hook up with our mobile suit army again, and, uh, gather up some followers...and...you know..." His voice trailed off meekly as he saw the look Dorothy was giving him.

She sighed. "Okay. What we're gonna have to do is to find all our old allies, and other enemies of the Preventers. We're going to have to kill Agent 01 and make sure no one gets hold of the tape that's monitoring us right now, and _then_ we deal with SONC."

"SONC?"

"Society Of the Nanashi Clowns. They're our rivals, with the aim to take revenge on Quatre Raberba Winner."

"But Quatre--"

"FORGET about Quatre. If he wasn't my husband and the love of my life, I'd kill him."

"But why would you...if he's your-- oh, never mind."

---------------------------

Heero's eyes widened. They were out to kill him...?

Then his eyes narrowed again. They were after his life. They were his enemies. He would destroy all enemies. Bwahaha.

---------------------------

Milliardo Peacecraft gasped. He fell to the ground, clutching at his heart.

"No! Not again! Must...resist..." He suddenly lifted his head, a wicked smile twisting his lips. His pupils had contracted, and his eyes now looked very odd. "Heh heh heh. Yes, almighty Zero. I read you. Destroy Heero Yuy. Drop a colony onto the Earth. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

---------------------------

Hidden deep underground, the eyes of a winged Gundam glowed.

---------------------------

Heero shouted a censored word as he saw Dorothy burst out of the Winner house, blasting at him with a very big gun. He struggled to ready his own weapon, but knocked himself off-balance, and tumbled out of the tree. His gun skidded out of his hand, and he was now at Dorothy's mercy.

A few minutes later Dorothy smiled, blowing smoke from the barrel of her gun. Mission complete.

She stomped the tape of her conversation with Treize to bits, then dragged Heero's dead body inside the house. She'd have to figure out a good way to dispose of it later.

to be continued...


	5. Part 5: Help From the Future

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 5 - Help From the Future**

"Yo, Dad! I'm home!" young Sandy Maxwell yelled as he burst in through the front door. Duo lifted a hand in greeting, eyes still glued to the football game on TV.

"Hi, Sandy," Hilde called from her bedroom, where she was folding laundry. "I made a snack. It's on the table."

"Thanks, Mom!" the young Maxwell boy called, living about twenty some-odd years in the future.

---------------------------

"Motheeeeeer!" Christy Yuy whined, "Leave me _alone_ already!"

"I'm just so nervous about your first date, sweetheart!"

"Mom, it's _not_ that big a deal."

"Come on, Relena, she's sixteen years old. If it weren't for me, I think you wouldn't have let her date until she was twenty."

"But Heero-chan--"

"I'll be _fine_, Mom."

---------------------------

"Hey, Dad."

"What."

"I got an A on that math test."

"That's great, James," Trowa said.

---------------------------

"Honey!" Dorothy called, "Where's the leftover cookie dough?"

"Back of the middle shelf in the refrigerator," Quatre called back, continuing to work with his daughter, Chelsea Winner, on her violin practice.

---------------------------

"WOMAN! COME BACK HERE!"

"I'm not a woman, Dad. I'm a boy."

Wufei reddened. "Sorry," he mumbled. "It's a habit."

"Sure, Dad," Chris answered.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE PAST:

"I don't believe this!" Lady Une yelled. "First Trowa kidnaps Wufei, Quatre, and Catherine, and starts some stupid organization with no definable purpose; Treize returns and plots to take over the world with Dorothy at his side; and NOW you're telling me that Heero's been killed and Zechs is missing?!"

The remaining Preventer team members glanced at each other uneasily. "Er...yes."

Une collapsed into a purple-colored chair with a sigh, then started trying to come up with a new strategy. If she could send Duo and Hilde to rescue Quatre and Catherine and to get Trowa back to his senses, send Sally and Noin to go stop Treize, and get her own people to look for Zechs before anything big happened...

She groaned. There was no way this was going to work. "All right, troops. We have to use our last resort."

"And what's that?" Sally asked. She was the only one paying attention because Relena and Noin were crying their eyes out over their husbands, and Duo and Hilde were playing tic-tac-toe.

"The Time Machine."

"Cool! A time machine!" Duo yelled. "I'm the leader of this mission!"

"No, _Sally_ is the leader of this mission, and she's the only one going. Do you understand, Maxwell?"

"Okay, fine," he grumbled sulkily.

"Hey," Hilde said, "this is getting boring. Wanna play the Sailor Moon card game? I got a new deck."

"Really? Cool!"

Sally and Lady Une sweatdropped.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

There was a flash of light, and the FutureGundam Wing gang, who were assembled for a random reunion party at the Preventer base, stared as a strange machine appeared in FutureLady Une's office, and PastSally stepped out.

"Aunt Sally?" Christy exclaimed in surprise. FutureSally rolled her eyes and exchanged a look with FutureUne.

"I TOLD you Une should have let me be leader of the mission!" FutureDuo yelled.

"Hey, Dad, what's going on?" Sandy asked.

"Oh Christy, I don't want you to goooooo!" FutureRelena wailed, as her daughter and FutureHeero exchanged a look of shared suffering.

"Is there something you guys haven't told us?" Chelsea asked.

"Well, Chelsea, basically you kids have to go back to the past, to when we were younger, to help bail our other selves out of trouble," FutureQuatre answered.

PastSally blinked. "Well...it seems like I don't have to explain anything, then."

"That's right," FutureSally said, clapping her on the back. "We all remember this, so you don't have to worry about us being surprised. After all, we've already been through it."

"Just like old times!" FutureHilde sighed, gazing longingly at the Time Machine.

"You sure look good," FutureWufei said, looking PastSally up and down.

FutureSally whacked him on the head. "Cut it out or I won't marry you."

"Sorry."

"Jealous of ourselves, are we?" FutureHilde muttered with a smirk.

"Am I _really_ going to marry Wufei?" PastSally gasped.

FutureSally nodded sympathetically. "Yup."

"Well then, let's get to it!" Sandy yelled enthusiastically, clambering onto the Time Machine.

Just before they left, PastSally suddenly stopped and stared at FutureHeero. "Hm. Looks like he's not dead after all."

"Heero, you idiot!" FutureUne yelled. "I _told_ you not to be here when she came!"

FutureHeero just glared at her.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE PAST:

"Whoa! Cool!" Duo yelled when the Time Machine got back.

"Did you succeed in your mission?" Lady Une asked.

Sally nodded, gesturing as Christy, Sandy, James, Chelsea, and Chris climbed out and looked around.

"Whoa! Dad! Your hair's so _short!"_ Sandy gasped.

"Wh-What?!" Duo sputtered, instinctively snatching up the end of his meter-long braid.

"Duo, Hilde, meet your son, Sandy."

"WHAT?!" they shrieked in horror.

"Your _future_ son."

"Oh, okay."

"Hey Mom, Dad, it's nice to meet you," Sandy said enthusiastically, glomping his parents' younger selves to hide his shock at how _good_ they looked at age sixteen.

"But where's _our_ parents?" Chelsea asked.

Une sweatdropped. "Well, um, you're Quatre's daughter, right? That blonde hair..."

Chelsea nodded. "Chelsea Winner. And this is Christy Yuy, Sandy Maxwell, James Barton, and Chris Chang."

"I prefer to be called Chang Chris," Chris said stiffly.

"Uh, thanks. Well, to put things in a nutshell, Trowa's gone nuts, Wufei's joined him, they've kidnapped Quatre and Catherine and forced them to join their group called the Society Of the Nanashi Clowns; Dorothy's joined up with Treize to take over the world, she's also killed Heero, and Zechs is missing."

The kids blinked. "So, what you're saying," James said slowly, "is that my dad's freaked, he and Uncle Wufei have kidnapped Uncle Quatre and Aunt Catherine, Aunt Dorothy and your former boyfriend killed Uncle Heero, and Uncle Zechs is missing?"

"That's - what I said."

"CAN WE PLEASE QUIT REPEATING THE CURRENT SITUATION OVER AND OVER AGAIN?" Noin screamed, on the verge of a nervous breakdown. "THIS IS THE THIRD TIME, AT _LEAST!"_

"Whoa, Aunt Lu, just - chill, okay?" Sandy said, backing away.

"Do we get to pilot our own Gundams?" Christy asked, getting down to business.

"Well...eventually, yes, I suppose so."

"Um, Aunt Une?" Chris spoke up.

"Yes, Chris?"

"Exactly what are Uncle Trowa and my dad planning to do?"

"Well...Trowa wanted revenge on Quatre for knocking him out on Libra and eloping with Dorothy, and frankly I don't have any idea why your father has joined him."

"But if the sole purpose of SONC is to get revenge on Uncle Quatre, then what's the point of making _him_ part of the organization?" Christy asked, confused.

"Um...I don't know. The only explanation I have is that Trowa is insane."

"But then why is Uncle Wufei going along with him?!"

"I don't know! Maybe he's crazy too!"

"Then where are Treize and Dorothy?!"

"I don't know! Ever since they killed Heero, they've been keeping a low profile!"

"THEN WHAT'S THE POINT OF US BEING HERE!"

"TO...TO...TO FIND ZECHS!"

"YOU CAN DO THAT ON YOUR OWN!"

"WELL IT WASN'T MY IDEA TO GET YOU FUTURE BRATS HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE! WHOSE IDEA WAS IT, ANYWAY?"

"Um, yours," Duo said. Une quickly neck-jabbed him to render him unconscious.

"This is stupid! I'm leaving!" Christy yelled, climbing back into the Time Machine.

"Yeah," Chris agreed, going after her.

"If they're going, I'm going," James said with a shrug.

"Wait up," Sandy said as he hopped up after James.

Chelsea looked around. "I'm not staying here by myself. Wait for me, guys!"

"Fine! Just be that way!" Une yelled at Christy, who was activating the controls.

"Fine!" she replied hotly.

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"FINE!" There was a flash, and the Time Machine disappeared, taking the Gundam pilots' future children with it.

"Well, that was stupid," Hilde commented.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

"That was the stupidest thing I've ever heard of!" Christy stormed, kicking the Time Machine.

FutureDuo nodded brightly. "Yup. That's what made it so fun!"

"How should you know, you were knocked out half the time," FutureUne said.

FutureDuo reddened. "Whatever."

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE PAST:

A shadowed figure with long, white-blonde hair was crouched next to the huge mobile suit.

"Soon," he breathed, "soon, my darling Zero...we will get him...will kill him...Heero Yuy...bwahahahahaha!" On either side of him, Wing Zero and Epyon stirred slightly, and their eyes glowed green.

to be continued...


	6. Part 6: The Plan

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 6 - The Plan**

"All right troops, listen up," Trowa said, pointing to a complicated diagram made up of a great many colored squiggly lines. "As we all know, the purpose of this organization is to AVENGE MYSELF ON QUATRE RABERBA WINNER!"

"Hear, hear!" Wufei called with a mad gleam in his eye, as Quatre, sitting next to him, squirmed uncomfortably. Catherine just gave them all strange, slightly horrified, looks. She had been set free the day before after promising to be good and to always remain faithful to the Society.

"Now, this is the plan. We are to sneak into the base where our prey is being held--" (Quatre turned white at the word 'prey') "--and locate him, taking great care to not get caught. Then we'll SWOOP down on him--" (Quatre jumped as Trowa banged his hand down on the word 'swoop') "--and SMASH his head in, taking him back here if the blow fails to be fatal." Quatre very slowly and quietly started scooting away, looking sick. Catherine was inching her way toward the open window. "Now, what is the aim of this organization?"

"KILL QUATRE WINNER!" Trowa and Wufei yelled at the same time, letting loose fierce battle-cries, just as Quatre accidentally scooted into the linen closet and was bombarded by an avalanche of sheets.

---------------------------

"Treize, I say we make our move," Dorothy said, loading up her numerous weapons.

"Um...why?"

Dorothy gave him a look of disgust. He had chocolate pudding all over his face and hands, and several empty containers of it scattered around him. "Never mind. But anyway, we're moving out tonight. Our goal: to capture the leader of our greatest enemy, Lady Une!"

"But...she's a nice lady," Treize said after a minute. "She gave me candy one time."

Dorothy groaned in exasperation.

---------------------------

"Yeah? What'dja want?" Duo asked as he came into Lady Une's office.

"I want you to be my bodyguard, Duo. I fear our enemies will try to take out the head of the Preventers first, by either assassination, or capture and ransom. So, your new assignment is to protect my life, with yours if necessary, until Trowa, Wufei, Dorothy, and Treize are behind bars, Zechs is found, and we have retrieved Quatre and Catherine."

"But wasn't it us who surrendered Quatre to SONC in the first place--" Duo started, but then gulped at the fierce glare Lady Une was shooting at him.

"So anyway, Duo, start bodyguarding me." They stood there for a moment and waited.

"Um, what am I supposed to do now?"

"Protect me from bad guys."

"But...there _are_ no bad guys."

"Oh. Well then, I guess you can just watch me do important, head-of-Preventer-type stuff until the bad guys show up."

"Oh goody," he mumbled sarcastically. Then her earlier words registered. "Wait a minute, what do you mean, 'with your own life if necessary?!'"

THAT NIGHT:

Zechs sat in Epyon's cockpit, chuckling and muttering to himself, watching the screens. With the ZERO system, he was all-powerful. He could do _anything_. He could kill Heero Yuy (never mind that he was already dead), wreak his revenge on Treize Khushrenada... Hey, these vid-screens were pretty good. Now he'd get a nice view of the double attack on the Preventer base.

---------------------------

Dressed all in black, the members of SONC crept through the halls, searching for-- Well, technically, they were searching for the small blonde black-clad figure that walked beside them, but LOGICALLY, they were searching for Quatre Raberba Winner.

---------------------------

On the other side of the building, two more people in black were also creeping through the halls, searching for Lady Une.

---------------------------

In between these two black-clad groups, the Lady herself (and her bodyguard) were walking up and down halls, searching for the coffee machine. Where _did_ that thing always disappear to, anyway?

---------------------------

"Man, can we just give up now?" Duo complained, flopping down on the floor.

"No!" Une yelled, "I need my coffee!"

Duo sighed and pulled a package out of his pocket. "Maxwell House Instant."

"Thanks," Lady Une said.

"THERE HE IS!" some voices echoed from down the hall.

"THERE SHE IS!" some more voices echoed from down the other side of the hall. Duo suddenly felt a hard blow to his head, and Lady Une found herself being wrestled to the ground.

"We got her, we got her!" Dorothy yelled, knocking Une out with chloroform.

"Yeah, we got her!" Treize said, dancing a little jig. Dorothy had psyched him up with sugar before they had left. They picked up their captive and bore her away.

Trowa looked triumphantly down at the unconscious Duo on the floor. Finally...revenge was his. "Comrades," he said, "look your last upon the body of Quatre Raberba Winner. We shall take him back to our base, where he will DIE!"

"A slow and painful death!" Wufei added eagerly. Catherine backed away and Quatre just stood with his mouth open. Was it just the tiniest bit possible that things were going a little too far...?

---------------------------

Zechs rolled around on the ground, laughing uncontrollably and pounding his fist on the floor. This was hilarious! Zero and Epyon seemed to think so, too, as they were doing the same.

EARLY THE NEXT MORNING:

'This could be very, very bad,' Duo thought as he lay shackled to the kitchen table of the Chang house. Wufei was sharpening his katana and Trowa was staring at him eerily.

When the sword was sharpened, Wufei positioned himself next to Duo's head, his execution weapon upraised, waiting only for Trowa's order. "Father Heavyarms," as he was now called, rose from his makeshift throne (a pile of sponges in the kitchen sink) and slowly came forward, until his face was so close to Duo's that all the unfortunate captive could see was a pair of intense green eyes.

Duo gulped.

"Quatre Raberba Winner," Trowa breathed. Duo had to resist the urge to drool. Trowa's breath smelled like peppermints. "You will now receive punishment for what you did to me on Battleship Libra some months ago."

"Huh?"

"For turning on me, going behind my back, _betraying_ me and leaving me behind - YOU WILL DIE!"

"DIE!" Wufei echoed happily.

Duo just stared, his jaw hanging slightly. "Uh...Trowa?"

"SILENCE, O CONDEMNÉD ONE!" Trowa bellowed. Duo was silent. "Now, you will be granted your last words. What do you have to say?"

"I can't believe how _stupid_ this is," Catherine muttered to Quatre.

"Yeah, if our friend weren't about to be KILLED," Quatre hissed back.

"Um...well, Trowa, I hate to say this, but - I'm not Quatre."

Trowa blinked. "All right, then. Goodbye, Friend Quatre. We were once like brothers; I am sorry it had to come to this."

"BUT I'M NOT QUATRE!" Duo screamed, frantic now at the gleam both in Wufei's eyes and at the tip of his katana.

"Oh my gosh, Trowa's really gonna kill him!" Catherine cried suddenly.

Wufei paused to give her an annoyed look. "Well, DUH, woman. What did you think?" Catherine just had time to hide her eyes before the blade fell.

Quatre stared, absolutely frozen.

_Duo._

_Was._

_Dead._

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed, then promptly threw up.

---------------------------

"Dorothy! Treize! What are you DOING?" Lady Une yelled. She was tied to a chair, as the spaced-out Treize held a gun to her head and Dorothy readied the camera.

"Well, Miss Une," Dorothy said smugly, "we need supporters, don't we? And what better way to encourage them to us than to display the capture of the leader of their (and our) greatest enemy? Lady Une, head of the Preventers. Besides, we can use you for ransom to manipulate the government. An important hostage often comes in handy."

IN THE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE:

"And so, I say we SHOULD, because there is just no other choice."

"No, we absolutely should NOT, because it's wrong!"

"No, we SHOULD, because we _can_."

"But surely..."

---------------------------

Okay, we'll leave the president's office now, as he and his cabinet, or whoever he talks to about important stuff, are too busy to attend to the tiny, insignificant, rather unimportant matter really, of the head of the defenders of the World Nation being held hostage by a space case and a split-eyebrowed freak.

IN THE OFFICE OF SOMEONE IMPORTANT:

"What the--?" The men sitting in the Office of Someone Important stared at the vid-screen, where Dorothy Catalonia's face was speaking.

"People of the World Nation! I, Dorothy Catalonia, representative of Treize Khushrenada, hereby declare our intent to rule this planet! We have captured Lady Une, the head of the Preventer organization, and we _will_ be holding her for ransom!" A short view of the bound Lady Une was shown. "Any groups who oppose the current government should seek us out and join us _immediately!_ Our phone number is 1-800-QUA-TRE-ISC-UTE. Goodbye!"

---------------------------

In a room containing the members of REO (Random Evil Organization), the Leader stood up. "Comrades! I say we join this Dorothy Catalonia and take over the world! What do you say?"

"YEAH!" the members of REO yelled. Then REA #1 (Random Evil Agent number one) picked up the phone and dialed the 1-800 number to reach the Winner mansion.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

"What's up?" FutureDuo asked as he hurried into the Preventers' meeting room.

"I'm afraid I have bad news. Invaders from the planet Wonka have landed on Earth and infiltrated our society. These aliens are called Nerds, and their method of conquerization is to disguise themselves as candy in their spaceships, which are disguised as the candy boxes. These Nerds, when eaten, then crawl into their victim's brain and take over their body, until the entire global population is under their control. This will be a tough fight."

"Is it just me, or do these Nerd invaders sound awfully familiar?" FutureQuatre whispered to FutureDuo and FutureHeero. They looked at each other and groaned.

"Oh no," FutureDuo muttered, "Raberba girl's taking the idea from the--"

"DQHs," FutureHeero finished.

"Is there something you would like to share with the class?" FutureUne said in annoyance.

The three sweatdropped. "No, ma'am."

"Good."

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE PAST:

Zechs chuckled sinisterly. Heero Yuy's body lay before him. So what if he was dead already, Zechs was gonna kill him anyway. In time...all in good time.

"Hehehehehehe...ahahhahahaha...AMWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" His evil, frightening, villain-like laugh reverberated off the walls of his hideout. "I'll get you too, Treize! I'll get you! And your little long-haired, split eyebrowed, un-reflectionized eyed, freaky little SNEAK of a Dorothy Catalonia, too! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Oy...that villainous laugh is sure getting annoying," Zero muttered.

Epyon nodded. "I'll say."

"Hey! You mechs shut up over there!"

to be continued...


	7. Part 7: The Wonkan Invaders

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 7 - The Wonkan Invaders**

"Man, being dead stinks," Duo complained, flopping down on a nearby cloud. "Although it's cool how we can fly."

"Hn," Heero grunted, continuing to pace in a circle around Duo.

"Although," the former pilot of Deathscythe mused, "if we die here in the past...how can we grow up and marry and have kids?"

Heero came to a sharp halt. "Kids? What 'kids?' What do you mean, 'marry?'"

Duo smacked himself on the forehead. "Nothing, nothing...just forget I said anything, Yuy Boy." To try to escape Heero's horribly intense _look_, Duo quickly changed the subject. "Hey! I've got an idea! How about we go down to Earth? You know, give the rest of 'em a scare? C'mon, it'll be fun!" Heero blinked, then grunted and resumed pacing.

---------------------------

"Hey, Quatre, are you okay?" Catherine asked, sitting down next to him on the bed. He had looked horribly pale and dazed ever since Duo-- ever since yesterday. For a moment he was silent, twitching occasionally.

Then he suddenly burst out, "NO, I am NOT okay! One of my best friends was just murdered in front of my very eyes! AND ALL BECAUSE OF ME!"

"Now Quatre," Catherine said in alarm, remembering what had happened the _last_ time someone close to him had died.

"They killed him! They KILLED him! SONC will pay! PAY!"

"Quatre--" Catherine started firmly, but he didn't hear her.

"SONC, you will never forget yesterday! I'll make sure you don't! For killing Duo Maxwell...I'LL GET YOU BACK! Hehehehehehehe...hahahahahahaha...AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Catherine groaned. Great, not again...

---------------------------

"Who's there?" Zechs yelled, his eyes darting around the room. Silence. "Who are you?" For a moment there was no answer, and then a very faint, whispery,

'_Zeeeeeeechs..._'

"I'M ARMED!" Zechs shrieked, scrambling into Epyon.

'_Zeeeeeechs...coooooome baaaaaaack aaaaand kiiiiiill meeeeeee..._'

"No! NO!" Zechs screamed, blasting at the shadows in a desperate attempt to cover up the horribly Relena-like call. When he ran out of bullets, he sat nervously in the smoke-filled air, listening hard.

A fit of laughter that sounded vaguely familiar finally cut through the silence.

Zechs's fear turned to rage. "DUO!"

A smoky white figure appeared in front of him, long braid swinging, eyes twinkling. "Hey, Zechsey, long time no see!"

"YOU WERE HAUNTING ME!"

"Well, hey, that's what ghosts do, right?"

Zechs suddenly stopped. If Duo was dead...and so was Heero...then maybe... "Hey, Duo, old pal..."

Duo stared, confused. "Uh, yeah?"

"You...wouldn't happen to know where Heero Yuy's ghost is, would you?" Zechs mentioned oh-so-casually.

Duo shrugged. "He's talkin' to Zero. He's boring, he didn't wanna help me haunt you. Said he's 'too cool.' Well, actually he said 'Hn,' but, hey, I'm getting good at translating Heero-speak!" Zechs, however, wasn't listening. He ran to where Wing Zero lay and threw open the hatch.

The ghostly form of Heero sat in the cockpit, murmuring to the ZERO system in a low voice.

"YOU!" Zechs cried. "OMAE O KOROSU!" Heero just watched quietly as Zechs raised the gun and fired.

---------------------------

A dark figure crept into the room where the sleeping Trowa lay. Moonlight reflected off aqua-green eyes, glinting at the tip of the painful-looking knife clutched in the intruder's hands.

Trowa stirred uncomfortably in his sleep, then his eyes suddenly flew open. He just barely had time to yell and scramble away before the knife made a stab at him.

Wufei came bursting into the room, yelling as well, swinging his sword at the assassin. "How DARE you try to kill Father Heavyarms? Die, villain!"

---------------------------

A few minutes later, the blonde-haired person slipped out of the Chang house, chuckling evilly to himself.

THE NEXT MORNING:

Sally, the temporary replacement of Lady Une, paced back and forth in front of the remaining Preventers, which was comprised of Relena, Hilde, and Noin.

"Troops, we have some new developments. Trowa Barton is wounded from an attempted assassination by Quatre Raberba Winner. DTO (Dorothy/Treize Organization) has collected a formidable amount of supporters, and our leader has been captured. We still do not know the whereabouts of Zechs Merquise, and now Quatre appears to be missing as well. And with Heero and Duo gone," (Relena and Hilde started crying) "I'm afraid we are at a great disadvantage."

"Well, this is just GREAT," Noin said, banging her fist on the table in frustration. "Everything always seems to go so perfectly for us, eh? Well, don't worry about DTO. I might just go over there and beat up Dorothy Catalonia myself!"

"Noin, no! You mustn't!" Sally cried, but Noin had already gotten up and walked out, heading for the mobile suit hangar and her Taurus.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

"Okay, tell me _exactly_ everything that happened," FutureDuo said, pulling out a pen and notepad. 'Man, these duds are _cool_,' he thought, fully aware of his black suit and sunglasses. 'I look like a Man in Black now!'

The farmer from somewhere in Montana shuddered as his wife buried her face in her hands. "It was _awful_," he said, "I'd gone to the store earlier, and just bought a box of Nerds...and then last night...last night..."

Mrs. Farmer let out a dry sob. "They were _alive!"_ she choked, "The Nerds...they attacked us!"

"It's okay, ma'am," FutureDuo said smoothly, pretending to jot down notes.

"I tried fending them off with my garden hoe," Mr. Farmer continued, "but it didn't work."

"So what happened to the Nerds?" FutureDuo asked, frowning. The Farmers suddenly broke into evil smiles. "Um, hello?" FutureDuo said nervously, starting to back away. "Guys?!" Mr. Farmer, his eyes a strange color, raised his hand, and FutureDuo suddenly couldn't move.

"Foolish-Earthling-Preventer! No-one-can-stop-us! We-took-over-their-bodies,-you-idiot!"

"Heero! Une! Somebody! HELP ME!" FutureDuo screamed, hoping the commlink in his pocket would pick up his voice.

"Human! Prepare-to-become-our-slave!"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY EAR, MY EAR!"

---------------------------

"NO! DAD!" Sandy screamed as the commlink in the Preventers' meeting room suddenly exploded with his father's screams. Everyone else started screaming also. And Jeremy decided, what the heck, and started screaming too. Which started the Mooses off, and soon so many people were screaming that the Editormon edited out the word "scream" from the rest of this paragraph.

"Duo, come in! Duo! Do you read me?" FutureLady Une scre-- yelled into the commlink. The sc-- shouts of pain and horror suddenly stopped, and there was silence.

"Dad?" Sandy whispered.

Then a voice. "Hey, I'm all right. Everything's okay, I took care of the Nerds. They'd already taken over the Farmers last night; they had me going for a while there." Sandy smiled in relief, but FutureLady Une was frozen. Then she slowly reached out and switched the comm off.

"Hey, what'd you do that for?" Sandy said in surprise.

"I-I'm sorry, Sandy. They're just acting, trying to put us off our guard. They-They got your father. He's our enemy now."

Sandy wordlessly dropped into a chair. 'Dad...'

to be continued...


	8. Part 8: Emergence of OSCFB

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 8 - Emergence of OSCFB**

"Who's there?" James Barton stared suspiciously around the silent yard. He'd been taking the trash out, but had felt somebody watching him. And then he heard something rustling in the bushes... "Come out! I know you're there!"

He didn't even have time to yell.

He was ambushed by several figures with hidden faces, who knocked him out before he could even begin to fight back. They took him away, while James's unsuspecting father continued watching TV inside the house.

---------------------------

FutureDuo Maxwell, or at least, the body that had once been FutureDuo, strode down a corridor of the Nerds' mothership. He came to the communications center, and pressed a few buttons that got him connected to FutureLady Une in the Preventers' headquarters.

---------------------------

FutureUne paced agitatedly, waiting for the transmission she had been informed she'd been going to receive. The other Preventers sat or stood silently around the room. Sandy Maxwell was quite still and withdrawn, his eyes dark and his face shadowed.

How _dare_ they take control of his father...

They would pay.

The vid-screen clicked on, and the person pictured on it caused everyone to involuntarily shoot worried looks at Sandy.

It was FutureDuo's face who smirked back at them.

Sandy was silent.

"Well,-let's-abandon-pretense,-shall-we?" he said mockingly in a voice warped from its original warm humor.

"What do you want?" FutureUne asked through gritted teeth. FutureDuo grinned and nonchalantly flipped his braid back behind his shoulder. The cold, mocking sparkle in his cobalt blue eyes, and the actions and movements that were so like FutureDuo's, and yet were not, were making both Sandy and FutureHilde furious.

"Hey,-that-should-be-obvious-by-now! Aliens-bent-on-conquering-Earth-for-no-apparant-reason,-taking-over-the-humans,-disguising-themselves-ingeniously--"

"Yeah, well, just to let you know, I HATE Nerds," Chelsea spat. "The candy I mean. Well, you too, you know, but you--" She stopped, confused. "Oh, you know what I mean!"

FutureDuo's eyes narrowed briefly in an expression of annoyance. "_Anyway_,-as-I-said,-our-motives-should-be-obvious. Conquerization,-control,-and-capture,-what else?"

"I KNEW it!" Relena's sudden outburst startled everyone. "_You're_ trying to take over the Earth! Just like the Dark Kingdom! And the Black Moon! And the Death Busters! And the Dead Moon! And Galaxia! And DTO!"

"Hey, watch it," FutureDorothy said, blushing a little as she remembered DTO's little fiasco twenty some-odd years in the past.

"I will destroy you! IN THE NAME OF THE MOON! MOON PRISM POWER MAKE-UP!"

Five minutes later, when the transformation was finally over, she pointed her Sceptre at the vid-screen. "Take this from the Senshi of Justice! Princess Beautiful Fairy Sparkly Pony Rainbow Sunshine And Flowers Sprinkly Sugar Cookies Joy And Happiness Fluffy Puppy And Kitty Polite Dolly Attack!" Pink light shot out of the sceptre and blasted the vid-screen to a smoking hole in the wall. Very pleased with herself, Relena de-transformed and sat back down.

No one even bothered to tell her that she'd only killed the vid-screen, not FutureDuo, because she probably wouldn't have understood anyway.

FutureUne sighed. "I'm so sorry, Sandy, Hilde," she said softly, laying a hand on FutureHilde's shoulder. "I'm sure...somehow...we can get Duo back."

That's when Christy noticed. "Hey, where's James?"

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE PAST:

Zechs stood, breathing hard, staring at what he'd done. Duo stared too, starting to look a little envious.

Heero climbed out of Zero's cockpit, coughing. "Hey. Thanks, Zechs," he said.

"How come YOU get to be alive and I don't?" Duo whined.

Zechs stared from the smoking gun in his hand to the perfectly live and healthy Heero Yuy standing before him. Of course...since Heero had been killed when he was dead...that meant he was alive again! It made perfect sense.

Heero cocked his head, thinking. Then he grinned. _Now_ he knew why there was a FutureHeero and FutureDuo.

"Hey, Duo. You want to be alive again?"

"Well, DUH! I hate being dead!"

Heero slowly grinned, then chuckled, and then the hangar was suddenly reverberating with his evil laughter that one usually heard right after he had blown something up. Both Zechs and Duo backed away nervously.

"Okay, Duo. Trade me." He gave Duo an expectant look.

"What?" Duo frowned. "Trade you what, exactly?"

Heero gave a wicked grin. "Your braid."

Duo hesitated, then said in a very low voice, "Fine."

'Fine?' Zechs wondered. He would have expected the boy to put up more of a fight over his prized chestnut locks.

Duo, scowling, walked over to a sink and started a stream of warm water running, then stuck his head under it.

Heero, who was standing there stupidly, holding an apparently-unneeded knife, said, "What are you _doing_?"

"You people just can't leave a guy alone, can you!" Duo ranted. _"'Let's cut off his hair!'"_ he mimicked. _"'Duo, shut up before I cut your braid off!' 'I swear, if you do that one more time, you are waking up bald!'"_ With the hair at the base of his neck now wet, Duo took hold of his braid and yanked, and to Heero and Zechs's astonishment, it came right off. Duo turned to face them, eyes gleaming. "Well, you finally got your wish, didn't you! That jerk Wufei just can't take a joke! It was only a little bit of glitter...all right, a lot of glitter... He didn't have to go and--" Duo abruptly stopped, looked at his see-through hand, then grinned brightly at Heero and held the braid out. "Well, hey, beauty takes sacrifice, ne? Now trade me, Heero! You promised."

Heero suddenly felt like laughing hysterically. "You mean he did it! He really did it! Way to go, Wufei!" He started to do a little victory dance, but was abruptly halted when an irate Duo wrapped the severed braid around his neck and tried to throttle him with it.

Zechs finally understood. "Zero, Epyon, did you hear that? It's been a FAKE braid for who knows how long! So, those Instant Hair infomercial things really _do_ work!" Zechs eyed his own silver tresses worriedly. "Cold water to stick it on, warm water to detach it..."

Heero, meanwhile, was laughing his head off. "Nice try, moron."

Duo stared furiously at his braid, which, like himself, was located on a different plane of existence, and had passed right through Heero. "Traitor!" he told it.

"Forget this, I'll form more internal wounds laughing at you than I did when I self-detonated. You will live, Duo Maxwell!" Heero said with a slightly insane look in his eye, "It is the will of the ZERO! FULFILL YOUR DESTINY!" Heero closed his fingers around the braid, and Duo's anger drained into apprehension. Heero lowered his head and rammed it into Duo's.

"OW! What the heck are you doing, idiot?!" Duo yelled as he was knocked to the floor. Heero was laughing The Laugh again, while Zechs stared in astonishment.

That's when Duo realized that his backside was sore from falling on it. He could actually feel pain again...? He stared at his hand wonderingly, flexing it. He was alive? He looked up at Heero, who was now a ghost again.

"Heero..." he whispered. "I guess...well, thank y--"

"NOOGIE TIME!"

"What the--?! Heero you moron, what are you doing?! Argh! Get off!" Duo yelled as Heero pounced on him, trapping Duo's head under his arm in a stranglehold and giving him an enthusiastic noogie.

And then - HE walked in.

"I SEARCH FOR LORD ZERO SYSTEM AND HIS SERVANTS, ZECHS MERQUISE AND HEERO YUY!"

"What the-- Quatre?" Duo rasped, still being half-choked by Heero.

"It is I!" said the demented blonde, "And after taking vengeance on my despised and cursed captor, one Trowa Barton, I now seek out the ZERO system to aid and guide me in my quest for universal domination and the resurrection of Duo Maxwell, my eternal friend, whose death lies at the root of my misery!" Although this made no sense whatsoever, Zechs and the dead Heero accepted him into their as-of-yet-unnamed organization eagerly. Zero and Epyon gave him an official ZERO system badge identical to the ones Zechs and Heero were wearing, and dubbed him Prince Quatre Raberba Winner of the Zero Clan.

"But QUATRE! I'm alive! I'm right here!" Duo screamed from under Heero's arm.

Prince Quatre turned his head toward him and smiled. "Ah, I see you have a captive. Will you make this young, unnamed prisoner a hostage in order to manipulate the crumbling Preventer Organization, whose existence stands in the way of my path to ruling the world?"

"Uh...sure," Zechs said, wondering why he suddenly felt shoved aside. How had Quatre all of a sudden taken his place as Chief Slave Of The Zero Clan?

Heero needed no more encouragement. Very soon, Duo found himself draped in a bunch of chains that were bolted to the wall, yet again the prisoner of some crazy, incredibly stupid organization with a totally pointless motive who had mistaken him for somebody entirely different. He was DUO, for cryin' out loud! Not Quatre, not some "nameless prisoner," HE WAS DUO MAXWELL! Surely he didn't look _that_ different without his braid...did he?

"Why me?" he moaned.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

"Where IS he?" FutureTrowa said wildly, at his wits' end. Way too many things were happening...first FutureDuo, and now FutureTrowa's own son...

"Oh great, we're getting another call," FutureLady Une groaned, pressing a button to activate the now-repaired vid-screen.

An evil, yet stupid-looking man was on the screen, holding a gun to the bound James's head, who was covered with what were unmistakably painted-on wounds and a great amount of ketchup.

"AHAHAHAHAHA! Preventers, we have the boy James Barton! As you can see, he is horribly wounded and will die without the proper care he needs, and SOON!" Everyone raised their eyebrows. It was obvious even to the stupidest of them that James didn't have a real scratch on him. However, he was still a prisoner.

"Don't worry, James, we'll get you back!" FutureTrowa said, putting a hand on the vid-screen.

The man smiled cruelly again. "We are OSCFB, the Outer Space Colony Freedom Bureau! It is our desire that the space colonies be FREE from the reins of the United Earth Sphere Alliance, White Fang, OZ, and Treize Khushrenada! WE WILL NOT BE OPPRESSED!"

The Preventers stared blankly at him.

"Um...Mister? Let me say this slowly and in a clear voice with small, easy words," FutureUne said with thinning patience. "Earth and Space are U-NI-TED. You un-der-stand? Alliance GONE. White Fang GONE. OZ GONE. Treize GONE."

The man just stared at her as blankly as the Preventers had previously stared at him. "Say what?"

"YOUR ORGANIZATION IS POINTLESS, JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER ONE AROUND HERE IT SEEMS LIKE!" FutureUne screamed in a fit. "THE COLONIES AND THE WORLD NATION OF EARTH ARE _ONE!_ THERE IS NO NEED TO BE FREE OF ANY OPPRESSIVE GROUPS FROM EARTH! WE! ARE! ONE! NATION!"

"Yeah, so give James BACK!" FutureTrowa yelled.

The man looked crestfallen for a minute, then suddenly smiled stupidly again. "Hah! Nice try. You think we of the Colonies' Freedom Bureau are stupid. But we won't be fooled by you! You can't trick us! Surrender by 15:00 tomorrow afternoon, or little Jimmy here DIES!"

There was a click, and the vid-screen went blank.

"ARGH!" FutureUne yelled, collapsing into a chair. "This is nuts! First the Nerds, now this! I'M GETTING TOO OLD FOR THIS!" FutureSally suddenly looked very hopeful. "But not old enough to retire anytime soon, Sally," FutureUne snapped. FutureSally reddened.

Christy suddenly stood up.

"Don't worry Aunt Une, Uncle Trowa. We'll take care of everything. We're going up there, and we're getting James BACK from OSCFB!"

"Yeah!" Chelsea and Chris chorused. Sandy just closed his eyes.

"Count me out. I'm going to rescue my dad. I'll fly up to the Nerd mothership itself if I have to, and I'm getting Dad back."

"Sandy," FutureHilde started, but he only stood up and stalked out of the room.

to be continued...


	9. Part 9: Nerds and Maxwells Don’t Mix

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 9 - Nerds and Maxwells Don't Mix**

"Cool! We get Gundams!" Chris yelled happily. Then, when he caught his father glaring at him for acting in such a Maxwell-like manner, he added, "And I shall use my newly christened, uh, Nataka, to visit justice upon my enemies!"

"Now _that's_ my boy!" FutureWufei said proudly, clapping his son on the back.

Christy and Chelsea immediately climbed up to the cockpits of their new Gundams, as did Chris, where they commenced to familiarize themselves with the controls.

Completely awed, Sandy slowly reached up to touch the cool Gundanium surface of Cerberus' foot, the highest he could reach, and then a cold gleam came into his eyes. With his mecha's help, he would rescue his father and take him back from the Nerds' control. And he would kill any and all who got in his way.

FutureHilde sucked in her breath. She knew that look... "Sandy."

He turned to look at her questioningly.

She suddenly enveloped him in a hug, holding him tightly. "Sandy, I don't want to lose you like I nearly lost your father when he went off to fight in that horrible Deathscythe of his," she whispered. "Please--"

"Mom, I'll be fine." For a brief instant, Sandy's eyes misted over, but then he quickly shook his head and steeled himself again. "I'll bring Dad back - I promise."

---------------------------

"Sandrock! I missed you soooooo much!" FutureQuatre cried, glomping his Gundam, or at least, as much as he could put his arms around.

"I MISSED YOU TOO, QUATRE-SAMA," Sandrock boomed, hugging FutureQuatre back as best it could with its huge hands and arms.

FutureDorothy groaned. "My husband can even make friends with _machines_. I think someone took the Spaceheart/I'm Your Friend thing waaaay too far."

Everyone climbed into their Gundams as follows: Christy in Gundam Angel Gem, Sandy in Cerberus, Chelsea in Desert Rox, Chris in Dragonfire (a.k.a. Nataka), and all the old pilots in their old suits.

"Hey! I am NOT old!" FutureNoin yelled.

"And neither is Tallgeese XVII!" FutureZechs said indignantly.

Yeah, whatever.

James and FutureDuo didn't get into their Gundams, of course, because they were both captured by various crazy, incredibly stupid organizations with totally pointless motives.

FutureRelena, FutureCatherine, FutureDorothy, FutureSally, and FutureUne were the only ones without mechs (whoever says Hilde can't pilot a suit because it's "too dangerous" is a STUPID FOOL!), and they stood waving white handkerchiefs and crying as the Gundams, Tallgeese XVII, FutureNoin's Taurus, and FutureHilde's Leo blasted away.

When they were out of sight, everyone set up a table and had a tea party with the abandoned Deathscythe and Nameless Clown Person Dude.

And yes, that IS the name of James's Gundam.

---------------------------

The Gundams (and Tallgeese, Taurus, and Leo) fought furiously against the alien forces to get to the Nerd mothership. None fought so valiantly as young Alexander Maxwell, who was bound and determined to rescue his father.

"The guardian of the underworld is BACK FROM HADES!" he screamed, slashing a couple of Nerd ships in half and then blasting toward the nearest entrance to the mothership.

---------------------------

Inside, Sandy, having abandoned his Gundam for the time being, made his way through the twisting corridors, ray guns blazing. Curiously though, he met with less resistance than his companions, resulting in his getting farther ahead, until he was all alone. Eventually, even the Nerds stopped coming at him, and soon he was walking though what seemed to be an eerily empty ship.

Coming to the end of one long passageway, he found a huge pair of doors. Hesitating only for a moment, he kicked them open and pointed his gun.

One lone figure stood in the room, watching a wall covered in vid-screens showing different images, its back toward him. A back that was partially covered by the long dark braid hanging down over it.

Neither of them spoke for a moment, until FutureDuo finally turned around and smiled. "Welcome,-young-Maxwell. Come-to-pull-off-the-quite-impossible-task-of-retrieving-your-father,-no-doubt?"  
"Just get out of his brain and leave him to me," Sandy said through gritted teeth.

"Well,-I'm-afraid-we-can't-do-that,-but-we-_shall_-let-him-speak-to-you-normally,-though-still-under-our-control,-of-course."

"And what good will _that_ do?" Sandy growled, until FutureDuo's body suddenly jerked, and he clutched at his head in pain.

"San...dy...don't–don't listen to...them...whatev-ever they say...d-don't..." he gasped, the strange look in his violet eyes gone for a minute before he jerked again and blinked, shaking his head a little as if to clear it. "Sorry about that, Sandy, this ol' Dad of yours still has some fight left in him."

The gun in Sandy's hands shook just a little, but he was silent.

"Anyway, I wanted to talk to you. Have a little heart-to-heart chat." The cold ice in his eyes was back.

"I don't have anything to discuss with you. I came to save my dad, and if you won't get out of his body, then I'll...I'll...I'll do something bad!"

"How terrifying. But anyway, before I speak to you, we must set the scene."

"?"

"On guard!" FutureDuo tossed his son a lightsword, and ignited his own. "Come on, boy!"

With a yell of rage, Sandy charged, and the Nerds inhabiting FutureDuo's body blocked him easily.

"Oh come on, you can do better than that."

"So, (slash) what did you (thrust) wanna (whack) talk to me about, (block) _Dad?"_ Sandy grunted, between slicing at his opponent and struggling to block the other's attacks.

"Well, for starters..." With a complex wrist move, FutureDuo finally managed to twist Sandy's sword out of his hand and took the opportunity to chop it off. The hand I mean, not the lightsword. He stood back, waiting for Sandy's scream of pain to die away, then said in a dramatically deep voice, "I AM YOUR FATHER."

"Well, DUH!" Sandy screeched, now enraged that the Nerds had gotten his hand. "You took my hand! Now you're gonna pay, you stupid crocodile! Take THIS!" With his teeth, he tore off his wristwatch and flung it in FutureDuo's face. "HAH HAH! Now I'll always know where you are from the ticking!"

FutureDuo glanced down at the digital wristwatch that had fallen on the floor. "Um...yeah. Whatever. Anyway--"

"OKAY, SO THAT _DIDN'T_ WORK! BUT YOU CUT OFF MY HAND, AND YOU _WILL_ PAY! I'LL...I'll...I'LL BITE YOUR BLOODY LEGS OFF!"

There was a moment of silence, while FutureDuo and Sandy just stared at each other.

"You think we're going a bit overboard with the movie references?" FutureDuo said finally.

Sandy nodded. "Definitely. Hand me my hand, will you? And my watch too, if you don't mind."

"Sure." FutureDuo gave his son both the hand and watch, then waited while Sandy reattached his hand with some futuristic space age thing that was invented for people in case a body part fell off for some reason, and strapped the watch back onto his wrist.

"Anyway, where were we?"

"We were going to talk."

"Right."

"Now son...you see, I've, well..." He sighed. "There's no way to break this gently--"

"You cheated on Mom!"

"Wha--?!"

"You're making us move to Australia!"

"But--"

"I was adopted!"

"Huh?! No--"

"We're being invaded by aliens!"

"Duh--"

"Mom's having a baby!"

"Sandy--"

"YOU'RE having a baby!"

"SANDY! SHUT UP!"

"You're secretly gay with Uncle Heero!"

"For crying out loud, NO! I was just going to ask you to _join_ me! You know, rule the galaxy as father and son!"

For the second time, Sandy and FutureDuo just stared at each other.

"I thought we weren't going to do the movie thing."

"Oh. Well - I changed my mind."

Sandy picked up his gun again. "Sorry, but I'm not joining you stupid alien candy things. I love the Earth and I love my dad, and I'm not letting you have either!"

"But come on! We could have the entire planet at our disposal! We could kill off all the humans, take over some--"

A blaster shot echoed through the room, as Sandy finally did what he had been trying to get himself to do from the moment he had opened the doors.

FutureDuo stared down at his chest, where Sandy had shot him. "You shot me."

"Yeah."

"That's - bad."

"Why? You mean you can't regenerate or anything?"

FutureDuo didn't answer. Unable to support him anymore, his legs gave out and he slumped to his knees, than collapsed to the ground.

"DAD!" Sandy flung his weapon aside and ran to his father. "Dad...I'm so sorry...I-I didn't mean...I didn't know..."

"San...dy..."

"It's okay, Dad, the others are here somewhere, we'll get you to a hospital--"

"No...I'm dying, Sandy. Let...me tell you something..." The Nerds' control had left him again, and it was pure FutureDuo, and nothing else, that was speaking. "Sandy...I love you...and your mom...so much..."

"Dad...Daddy..." Sandy hugged him, not too hard, and squeezed his eyes shut. It was all his fault...he'd shot his father... "AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Aha-ha-ha,-sucker!" FutureDuo cackled, now not seeming to notice his already-regenerating wound. He lunged at Sandy, pinning him to the ground by the wrists. "Comrades! Yet-another-victim-for-our-collection!"

His gun had skidded away, hopelessly out of reach. Sandy watched, helpless and terrified, as a wave of Nerds surged toward him from their hiding places, intent on crawling into his brain and taking him over...just like they'd done to FutureDuo...

BAM!

The door burst open and blaster shots went in every direction, blinding both Sandy and FutureDuo.

"Sandy! Come on!" FutureWufei yelled, taking the moment of distraction to shove FutureDuo away and grab Sandy's hand. "Run for it, the others will pick you up if you can't find Cerberus fast enough! I'll hold these guys off!"

"Uncle Wufei!" Sandy choked, but FutureWufei was already trying to fight off FutureDuo and the army of Nerds surrounding them.

Blinking back tears, Sandy bolted for the door, knowing that he didn't have enough time to retrieve his gun.

This time, the Nerds didn't leave him alone, and were coming at him fast and furious. Trapped in a dead end, he started screaming for help, hoping one of the others was nearby, when Cerberus suddenly burst through the wall next to him.

"Cerby!" he cried in relief. "Thanks, man!" He wasn't surprised that his Gundam had found him and knew just when he needed help, because, as EVERYONE knows, Gundams are really ALIVE.

Fighting his way back out of the ship, Sandy encountered the others one by one.

"Sandy! Where's Dad?" Chris yelled over the noise of battle once they had all finally managed to get back out into space.

"They–They got him, Chris. He was trying to save me. I'm sorry..."

Chris's end of the commlink was silent, as the defeated Gundam team (and Tallgeese, Taurus, and Leo) headed back home in retreat.

"Mission: failed," Christy whispered.

---------------------------

Back in the Nerd mothership control room, two figures now stood, watching the vid-screens on the wall.

"Don't-worry,-Wuffie,-you'll-like-being-taken-over-by-Nerds. Not-really,-you-know,-they're-just-making-me-say-that," FutureDuo said.

FutureWufei nodded. "Of-course. Hm,-maybe-now-we-can-actually-start-getting-along."

"Maybe."

After a moment of silence, FutureDuo turned away from FutureWufei to hide his demented grin. The false violet ice in his eyes melted, and he laughed silently. With Sandy's help, he had finally managed to throw off the Nerds' control for good - but with a price.

The effort of the struggle for freedom had driven him insane.

to be continued...


	10. Part 10: Prisoner Of the Zero Clan

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 10 - Prisoner Of the Zero Clan**

DTO, which now contained REO (Random Evil Organization) and some other bad guys in addition to Dorothy and Treize, was camping out at the Winner mansion, its headquarters. Lady Une was in one of the bedrooms, handcuffed to a bedpost with several soldiers standing guard.

"My fellow DTO members!" Dorothy said, "Our time draws near! The Preventers have lost their power, and the president is able to do nothing! Soon, the Earth WILL BE OURS!"

"YEAH!" the voices of her allies chorused, and Dorothy smiled evilly and sipped her glass of wine while the mansion seemed to explode with cheers and whoops.

In one corner of the room, Treize was playing with some stuffed animals. "'Baby Kitty, it's time for bed now!' 'But I don't want to go to bed, Mommy Kitty!' 'Too bad! It's sleepy time for you!' 'Aw, Ma...'"

---------------------------

Lady Une glanced behind her. Perfect... The handle on that chest of drawers looked sharp enough. Inconspicuously, she set her wrists against it and started to saw through the ropes.

---------------------------

In the lair of the Zero Clan, Duo, still hanging tiredly from his chains, watched as Heero's ghost paced around and around the room. "Prince Quatre Raberba Winner" had set up a shrine similar to some of the stuff they'd seen of Wufei's, except this one had pictures and things of Duo instead of Meiran.

"Duo...I promise you, I WILL find a way to bring you back, my dear friend," Quatre whispered. Duo rolled his eyes. He'd given up long ago on trying to convince the nutcase members of this wacko organization that he really WAS Duo, and that he really WAS alive.

Suddenly, Heero stopped, then walked over to stand directly in front of Duo. "Prisoner of the Zero Clan, to whom I once traded my life--"

"Hey...so you DO know I'm Duo!" Duo suddenly realized. "Heero, why aren't you stopping them? Tell Zechs and Quatre and those freaky Gundams to let me go!"

Heero gave him a look as if it were obvious. "I'm INSANE, Duo, haven't you figured that out by now?" He knelt down to undo his shoelace, then straightened up and tied it in a bow around Duo's neck, just because he felt like doing something pointless to proove that he really was insane. "As I was saying, Prisoner of the Zero Clan...I have fulfilled my mission by bringing you back from the dead, and now I grow tired of the world of the living."

"So...you're leaving?"

"Never to be seen again in this form."

"Oh. Well - bye. I guess."

A few minutes later, Quatre turned and looked around the room. "Prisoner of the Zero Clan, where did Brother Yuy go?"

Duo shrugged. "He went back to that cloudy place I was at before."

Quatre nodded. "Ah. Well, I don't really know what to do with you now as a prisoner. Shall I starve you? Taunt you? Torture you?"

"How about D) none of the above?" Duo suggested nervously.

Quatre stepped up so that he was right in the captive's face. "Who are you, slave, to have any say in our decisions regarding your fate? Be silent!" He slapped Duo across the face, which didn't hurt all that much, because Quatre is really just a kind little soul at heart, and can't REALLY hurt anybody, even if he's insane.

Right?

"Now, speak!"

"Uh...woof?"

"GOOD boy! Here's a treat!" Quatre tried to give Duo a piece of cake, but ended up having to feed it to him because he was all chained up.

Mulling over how Quatre was suddenly treating him like a pet dog, Duo got an idea. "Hey, Qua-- uh, Master!"

"What is it, boy?"

"Since I've been really good...d'you think you could take me out for a walk?"

Quatre paused, thinking. "Well...since you HAVE been well-behaved lately...and you look like you could use the exercise...okay!"

Duo couldn't believe his luck.

---------------------------

Lady Une suppressed a gasp of surprise as she felt the ropes suddenly give with a little jerk, and a slight feeling of giddiness surged up into her head as she realized she was free. Weird how her handcuffs had conveniently changed to rope, but whatever. Now to get rid of the guards.

She bit her lip. There sure were a lot of them, and they were all armed. They had orders to kill her if she tried anything funny, and they all looked mean. With a little sigh, she realized that she needed to use her last resort. Wincing slightly, she inconspicuously reached down to pull a pair of glasses from her pocket...

---------------------------

Wufei paced around and around the hospital room, cursing. How had he managed to let himself be wounded by such a weak little boy?

Although his own injuries (enough at the time to allow Quatre to escape) were healing quickly, and he could now get around normally again, Trowa was lying deathly still on the hospital bed, breathing shallowly as all the monitors that were hooked up to him hummed and beeped softly.

Catherine sat silently by the bed, holding Trowa's hand. Though she didn't say a word, her indigo eyes were frosted over with hate, and under the whispered prayers for her brother she had only one thought: 'Quatre Raberba Winner - for doing this to my Trowa, I will kill you.'

---------------------------

"You know, Quatre," Duo mused as he walked along, the rope that was attached to the improvised collar around his neck being held by his companion, "I think a lot of people hate you right now."

Quatre looked surprised. "Really? Why?"

Duo only sighed.

---------------------------

With eyes that were cold and hard and merciless as steel, Noin flew on in her Taurus, her furious mind mulling over everything bad that had happened to her and the Preventers. It was all Dorothy's fault.

Finally reaching the Winner Mansion, she circled a couple of times around it and then landed on the lawn. "Dorothy!" she screeched through the mobile suit's commlinks, "Get out here and fight me! You've caused us enough trouble; I will destroy you once and for all!"

Something moved on the roof. Noin squinted, and then realized it was Dorothy.

"Lucrezia Noin, is that you?" Dorothy yelled.

"Yeah! Why?"

Dorothy shrugged. "Just wondering. Let me get my mobile suit." She hopped off the roof and headed for the garage.

"Fat chance! If you were not prepared for my arrival, then you are a weak enemy, and I won't mind playing dirty! I'll destroy your base here and now!" She aimed her suit's beam cannon at the mansion and started to power it up.

"Stop right there."

Turning, Noin nearly choked to see herself surrounded by forty familiar-looking mobile suits. "M-Maganacs! You joined DTO?"

"Yes!" Rashid said from inside his suit. "Since we do not know where Quatre-sama is at the moment, we will now dedicate our lives to protecting his beautiful and clever wife, and will be at her side until our deaths or until our Quatre-sama returns!"

There was a wicked laugh from the ground, and Noin looked to see Dorothy standing there.

"You fool! I don't _need_ a mobile suit, I have all the protection I could ask for right here! Surrender, Noin. Your struggle is futile! You are beaten."

Noin gritted her teeth, but had to admit reluctantly that Dorothy was right. Climbing out of the Taurus with her hands in the air, she resigned herself to her fate as the Maganacs took her prisoner.

---------------------------

Zechs paced agitatedly around the Zero Clan's hidden base. Heero was gone now, and Quatre had taken Duo somewhere. He was all alone again. Just like he had been _before_ all of them had come.

He gave a hysterical little laugh and stopped to pat Epyon awkwardly on the foot. He and Zero and Epyon had been so _happy_ together, just the three of them in their little pointless, evil organization. His eyes glowed as the ZERO system started doing its thing again.

Zechs Merquise was the Chief Slave Of The Zero Clan.

If "Prince" Quatre wanted to take that honor away from him--

--he would die.

Once again, the underground base rang with Zechs' villainous laughter.

---------------------------

Wufei suddenly grabbed his katana and stalked out of the room. Trowa was safe; no one knew where he was, and Catherine was watching over him. SONC could manage without Brother Altron for a while.

Marching out of the hospital and down the street with smoldering fury in his black eyes, Wufei growled a little and clenched his sword tighter as he envisioned it plunging into the one who had done this to SONC - Quatre Raberba Winner.

to be continued...


	11. Part 11: The Rescue of James Barton

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 11 - The Rescue of James Barton**

James sighed, stopping his restless pacing around the cell. He was so bored...why did stupid OSCFB have to pick on him, anyway? They could have kidnapped _Chelsea_, or _Sandy_, but nooooo, they had to go and abduct _him_.

He gave a frustrated little groan and flopped to the floor. The others had better rescue him soon...the food in this place was disgusting.

---------------------------

All the FuturePreventers were running around in the mobile suit hangar, getting the Neo Generation Brats' Gundams ready. The adults couldn't go on this one, because they had to stay at home and tape "Survivor."

Giving her father a goodbye hug and kiss, Chelsea picked up her space helmet and started toward Desert Rox, but then slowed. Turning her head, she saw Sandy slumped almost out of sight in the shadows behind Cerberus's foot.

She hesitated for a moment, then bit her lip and went to him.

"Hey Sandy...you okay?" Chelsea asked softly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Chelsea...I think that - that maybe I shouldn't go," he said in a low voice.

"What?" she exclaimed, startled, "Sandy, you have to go! We need you."

"But..." He looked up at her, and his eyes glistened. "Chelsea, I couldn't save my dad, and then I got Uncle Wufei caught too. Maybe I'm cursed or - something."

"Sandy, that's stupid."

There was a pause.

"Oh. Okay." Then he got up and headed over to where the spacesuits were.

"All right!" FutureHoward yelled about ten minutes later, "Are you kids all set?"

"Mission Accepted."

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Yup!"

"JUSTICE WILL BE MINE!"

"Atta boy, Chris, go get 'em!" FutureWufei called.

The boosters started. With a blinding flash of light, a blast of heat and a deafening roar, the Brats' Gundams headed off to the colonies.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE PAST:

Quatre and Duo were in the park.

"Fetch, boy!" Quatre called, throwing a stick.

Duo sighed. Being a dog for the day was a drag, but at least now he had a chance to escape. Running in the direction of the stick, he didn't dare look back as he passed it and kept on running, hoping that Quatre hadn't been paying attention to exactly how far the stick had gone. As Duo ran, he fumbled with the clasp of the collar around his neck until he was finally able to rip the thing off and dump it into the nearest trash can. He didn't slow down until he was a few blocks away.

Back in the park, Quatre wandered around and hummed, wondering vaguely at how long it was taking for Duo-puppy to bring the stick back.

It wasn't until a few hours later that Quatre figured it out.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

FutureDuo smirked insanely as he glanced sideways at FutureWufei, then casually turned and walked out of the room. FutureWufei turned to watch him, a wary frown on his face. When the other man disappeared through the door, FutureWufei reluctantly looked back to the monitors showing various views of outer space.

FutureDuo was starting to cause suspicion...FutureWufei would have to keep his eye on the feisty Earthling.

And he also had to make sure that the Maxwell boy didn't escape his/their grasp again. It was vital.

---------------------------

"Are you tracking them?" FutureTrowa asked.

"Yeah," FutureZechs answered, pressing some buttons on the computer. "Don't worry, Trowa, they'll get through all right, and they'll bring James back for sure. They're our kids, after all."

FutureTrowa sighed. "Yes, I suppose you're right..."

Behind them, the rest of the FuturePreventers were glued to the TV, arguing over whether Kucha or Ogakor would win the immunity challenge this time.

---------------------------

"Okay, does anyone remember which colony Aunt Sally said OSCFB was located?" Chelsea asked. She was met with silence. "Hey...guys?"

"I've failed in my mission!" Christy suddenly cried, "I forgot to remember the enemy's location! I am a worthless soldier!"

"I forgot too! Father, I have failed you as a son and as a warrior of the Dragon Clan! I must pay for my incompetence!" Chris also lamented.

"Hey, what are they _doing_?" Chelsea exclaimed in horror.

"Gah! They're trying to kill themselves!" Sandy choked. Sure enough, the two obsessed Neo Gundam pilots had come out of their mechs and were now floating in empty space, veeeeeeery sloooooowly reaching to take off their space helmets...

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Sandy and Chelsea cried, their Gundams lunging forward in slow motion. Riiiiiiiiight at the last minute, they snatched the two suicidals and shoved them back into their own Gundams.

"Stay!" Chelsea shrieked frantically.

"Yeah, don't SCARE us like that!" Sandy yelled furiously.

"But, we are now inferior beings for our inability to--"

"Oh, shut up!"

Christy and Chris scowled.

A minute later, Chelsea suddenly had an idea about their current predicament. "Hey, we'll just ask Uncle Zechs!" she said brightly. Pressing a button, she activated the commlink in her Gundam and was soon faced with a very statickey screen which had FutureZechs' image on it.

_"Chelsea, is everything all right?"_

"Except for Christy and Chris trying to kill themselves, yeah. The thing is...we all forgot which colony we're supposed to go to."

_"Oh. Well, that's easy - it's colony #9284759847598274543 in the L3 cluster."_

"No wonder we forgot," Sandy mumbled.

"Everything seems to happen on L3, doesn't it," Chris mused.

Chelsea saluted. "Thanks, Uncle Zechs!"

"_Anytime_," FutureZechs said before cutting the transmission.

"All RIGHT!" Chelsea said enthusiastically, sounding frighteningly like Ash from Pokémon, "Let's go capture some CLOW CARDS!"

The other three gave her weird looks.

"Um...I meant-- never mind."

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE PAST:

Her fingers closed over the familiar contours of her glasses, and she couldn't help a fond smile. It had been so long since she'd worn these... Pulling them out suddenly and jamming them onto her face, Colonel Une immediately swept into action, karate-chopping a couple of the guards to the ground before they could even react, and then getting rid of the rest with the spiked end of one of her high-heeled shoes.

A twisted, bloodthirsty smile on her lips, Une quickly did up her hair in the braided cinnabuns, then snatched up a gun and ran out of the room. Feet pounding down hallway after carpeted hallway, she couldn't help a few peals of evil laughter as she delighted in her long-forgotten state of the Ruthless Bad Girl we all know and love. Any members of DTO/REO she happened to run into were quickly brought down. With her growing collection of guns blazing, the gal was _hot_.

All of a sudden as she ran past one open door, Une skidded to a halt, nearly fell, and then crept back breathlessly to peer into the room. "Treize-sama...?" she whispered.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

"Agh! I didn't expect their defense line to be so strong!" Sandy yelled, slashing at a couple of enemy mobile suits with his beam scythe.

"We'll just have to charge through - there is no way I'll let this mission fail like the last one did," Christy growled.

Sandy looked simultaneously guilty and annoyed. "Hey, was it _my_ fault Uncle Wufei decided to show up and save me?"

"Shut up!" Chris shouted over the commlinks, blasting an arc of dragonfire at some more mechs.

"We _can't_ let James and Uncle Trowa down; we've got to save him!" Chelsea said determinedly.

"Enough of this," Christy said finally, holding up her triple-beam cannon. "Get outta my WAY!"

"Line stealer," Sandy said irritably as the army of opposing forces was obliterated in the blast.

"Just come on!" The other Gundams followed Angel Gem deeper into the colony.

---------------------------

James looked up as he heard faint shouts and footsteps running past his cell door. From far away he thought he could hear the sound of a blaring alarm, and for a moment he held his breath, hardly daring to hope.

Was it possible that they were finally coming to save him? "Come on, guys, get me out of here," he whispered.

---------------------------

"Hai-YAH!" Chris smashed through a final door with Dragonfire's - excuse me, _Nataka's_ - beam glaive. "Come on, we're through!"

"I think it would be better if we left our Gundams here and continued on foot," Christy said, opening Angel Gem's hatch and climbing out. The others were quick to follow suit.

"Should we split up?" Sandy asked, readying his gun.

Chelsea shook her head. "Nah. That's what everyone does."

"It'll be just what they're expecting," Christy hissed with almost mad satisfaction. She suddenly threw back her head and let loose with an evil-sounding cackle.

"Don't _do_ that, you sound like Uncle Heero when he gets scary!" Sandy yelped.

Christy shook her head, ignoring him. "Troops, onward!"

Chris pulled out his katana. "BRING IT ON!"

---------------------------

"Not much _to_ bring on," Chelsea muttered an hour later. They had been wandering around, looking for the prison block, and had passed by swarms of OSCFB soldiers who hadn't even given them a second glance.

"Will they _please_ shut up with the stupid ALARMS!" Sandy snarled. He blasted at the ceiling in annoyance, which, of course, had no effect.

"True soldiers aren't bothered by such trivial nuisances," Christy sniffed haughtily.

"Yeah, you are WEAK!" Chris added almost gleefully.

Sandy rounded on him with the gun. "Will you just _drop_ it? _That's_ getting on my nerves, too."

"Oh. Sorry, Sandy," Chris said.

"That's okay." The two boys lowered their weapons and continued on with the girls.

ANOTHER HOUR LATER:

"Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh! That stupid siren is driving me INSANE!" Sandy shrieked, practically blowing the ceiling to bits in his wild attempt to cease the agony.

"Hey, watch it!" Christy yelled, covering her head as what was once the paneling above them began to rain down on their heads.

"Why can't we all just be friends here?" Chelsea pleaded.

Chris sighed. "Are we _any_ nearer to finding the prison block than we were before?"

"No, but here's the cafeteria," Sandy suddenly said. "Let's have lunch, then keep looking later."

Everyone shrugged and silently agreed.

YET ANOTHER HOUR LATER:

"Yeah, so she says to me, 'Harold, why didn't you make the spaghetti _before_ you watered the lawn?' and I said, 'Why, 'cause we HAVE no lawn!'"

The OSCFB soldiers and Neo Gundam Brats burst into laughter. They were all sitting at one of the tables and enjoying conversation after having finished lunch.

"So then what did Mary say after that?" Christy asked, interested.

"She didn't say anything - she went to pick up the clothes from the dry cleaners!" the enemy soldier said gleefully.

Everyone burst laughter again, then wondered why.

TWENTY MINUTES LATER:

"Well, gotta get back to work; I hear the new Gundam pilots are loose in the base," the guy called Harold finally said, standing and picking up his long-empty bowl. Some of the other soldiers rose to leave too, as did the Neo Brats.

"Yeah. Well, it was nice talking with you," Chelsea said. "Bye!"

"Bye!" some of the other soldiers called, and everyone went their separate ways.

"They _still_ haven't turned off the stupid alarm," Sandy sighed as they continued on down the corridors.

"You get used to it," Chris muttered.

YET _ANOTHER_ HOUR LATER:

"Argh! We've been looking forEVER!" Chelsea whined, plopping down on the floor. "I'm tired and hungry and scared and cold and lost and I wanna go home!"

"We just had lunch," Sandy said. "We're in no danger, it feels like the air conditioner's broken down, and we haven't found James yet."

"Oh...well, I'm still tired and lost!"

"Excuse me," Chris said, catching the arm of a random OSCFB soldier who was running by, "do you know where the prison block is?"

"Yeah, it's down that hallway right there. Just go straight for two doors, then take a left, follow the walrus tracks and then turn left again at the bus stop sign."

"Thanks."

"And, while we're at it, could you help me? They say the Gundam pilots have invaded the base; have you seen 'em?"

"Yeah, they went that way," Sandy said, pointing in a random direction.

"Thanks! See you later," the man said, saluting, then ran off.

Sandy shook his head. "Are all bad guys this stupid?"

"I wish. Remember your dad," Chelsea said quietly.

Sandy looked away. His fingers slowly clenched into a fist.

"Don't worry about that now, we're almost there," Christy said. "Let's go!"

"Right." They all followed her down the corridor that led to the prison block.

"One, two," Chelsea counted. "Here."

Everyone turned left, then halted in astonishment.

"Walrus tracks," Chris muttered in mixed disgust and disbelief.

They followed the tracks somewhat suspiciously, then halted and stared again. Right there, smack-dab in the middle of a corridor in the secret enemy base of the Outer Space Colony Freedom Bureau on colony #9284759847598274543 in the L3 cluster, stood a cheery, bright yellow stop sign.

"Kinda makes you wonder about the sanity of this place," Chelsea said finally.

_"'Kinda makes you wonder?'"_ Sandy said, giving her an annoyed glance. "Chelsea!"

"What?" she asked innocently.

"Never mind."

---------------------------

James caught his breath as he heard voices outside his cell. Familiar voices. "Guys?" he called. "Sandy? Christy?"

"It's James!" someone cried from outside. There was a scuffling sound, a pause, and then a small, almost soundless explosion near the door's lock, before it was pried open and his friends were standing there.

"JAMES!" Chelsea shrieked, bounding inside and glomping him, "We were so WORRIED about you! Are you okay? Did they hurt you? Are you all right? Are you hungry? Oh, Uncle Trowa's going to be sooooo happy!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he said quickly, managing to extract himself with some difficulty. "Could use some food, though...you sure took your sweet time about rescuing me!" he said indignantly as Sandy handed him a bag full of leftovers from lunch.

"Sorry. We had to try and rescue Uncle Duo first," Christy apologized.

"Is he okay?" James asked.

Everyone jumped when Sandy suddenly turned away and pounded his fist on the wall. "No, he's NOT okay," he growled, "I couldn't save him, and I ended up getting Uncle Wufei captured too."

"Oh...I'm sorry, Sandy," James said helplessly.

"Come on, we don't have time for this. We'll figure out what to do about Uncle Duo and the Nerds later; right now we should be concentrating on escaping from here," Christy said.

Chris and Chelsea nodded. "Right."

James nodded as well, giving Sandy a worried glance. "Yeah. Come on, man."

Sandy gritted his teeth, then sighed and went with them reluctantly.

Outside in the corridor, they hadn't gotten far when the alarms suddenly stopped.

"MAN!" Sandy yelled almost fearfully, "That feels _weird!_ It's so...so _quiet_."

"Sudden silence after more than four hours of repetitive NOISE will do that to you," Christy growled, more alarmed than she was letting on. She cocked her gun, darted agitated glances around them, and tuned her ears for any sign of danger. She didn't like how the alarms for their intrusion had suddenly shut off like that. Almost as if they'd been--

"Discovered," an icy voice finished her thought. Christy whirled around to find an entire legion of armed OSCFB soldiers blocking the hallway. She whipped back around to see that they were now surrounded.

"I didn't do it! I'm a good girl!" Chelsea shrieked, dropping her gun and leaping into Sandy's arms in terror. He sighed and decided not to let go of her, considering it gave him a good excuse to not raise his hands in surrender.

Christy, Chris, and James, however, were not so lucky, and were reluctantly forced to drop their weapons before lifting their hands stiffly into the air.

The man who had spoken grinned cruelly as he gave a signal, and several men came forward to restrain their new prisoners. "Gundam pilots, I welcome you. Come with me, and I will tell you something interesting..."

---------------------------

"WHAT?!" Chris shrieked indignantly, and the two officers standing on either side of him grabbed his shoulders to hold him back. "How DARE you make such a preposterous proposal? I REFUSE to turn traitor against my own friends and family! It is injustice!"

"Well you know, Chris, your family doesn't exactly have the cleanest record in the world for keeping on the same side as their allies," Sandy muttered. He grinned a little as he remembered the self-righteous stories his father used to tell of Uncle Wufei joining the enemy.

Then Sandy remembered that his father was no longer waiting for him at home to tell anymore self-righteous stories, and his eyes hardened once again into blue ice.

Chris blushed. "Well, you know...whatever."

"Humph. So, you won't join us?" the OSCFB man said.

"Never," Sandy spat. "I didn't join the Nerds, and I WON'T take sides with you either!"

"The Nerds asked you to join them, too?" Christy hissed in horror.

Sandy shrugged. "Hey, when you got it, you got it."

"Though I'd be wary of the attraction for evil forces that you seem to possess," Chris said darkly.

"My _dad_ asked me to join them - the Nerds talking through my dad, you know - and I didn't agree to it," Sandy growled. "Don't start thinking I'm the enemy! I nearly got killed fighting him!"

"Hey, quit arguing! We can't win if we don't stick together," Chelsea said.

"Well then," the man continued, "if you refuse to join us, then we'll just have to convince you to change your minds." He snapped his fingers.

Sandy's eyes widened as one of the soldiers came towards him with a pair of scissors. He suddenly screamed and began to struggle wildly as he felt them take hold of his hair. "Don't you DARE touch my braid, you--!"

"Ack! My innocence!" Chelsea squeaked, trying to plug up her ears against Sandy's curses. She had little success, since her hands were shackled together.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" the man cackled evilly. "I've got you now, Gundam brats! If you don't join us, WE'LL CUT OFF MAXWELL'S BRAID!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sandy howled in desperation. "Not my hair! Please! Not my hair! _Anything_ but that! I'll join you, I'll join you! I'll be your most loyal soldier, I swear!"

"Traitor!" Christy and Chris screeched at the same time, while James uncertainly looked back and forth between them, and Chelsea still attempted to cover her ears with her stuck-together hands.

The man grinned wickedly. From the depths of the base, a sound seemed to well up.

_'Chriiiiiiiiiiistyyyyyyy...Cooooooooome baaaaaaaack aaaaaaaaand kiiiiiiiiiill meeeeeeee!'_

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Christy screamed, throwing herself to the floor in an attempt to bash her brains out rather than listen to the hated sound. "Noooo! I'll join you too, just please STOP it!"

_"Christy?!"_ Chris said in a strangled voice. Then his shocked look changed to one of rage. "WEAKLING!"

"Bwahahahahaha!" the man laughed villainously. And then--

_'Sera MUUUUUUUN! Do do de do de do do do DE dooo! Do do de do de do do SERA MUUUUN! Do do de do de do do! Do do de do de do do! Hm mm hm mmm mmmmm, SERA MUUUUUUN!'_

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Chris screamed, backing away in terror. Every single vid-screen in the room had suddenly begun displaying one of Sailor Moon's transformation sequences. "Turn it off, turn it off! Women are weak! Cartoons are weak! Sailor Moon is weak! I will not tolerate weakness! TURN IT OFF!"

"Only if you swear your undying loyalty and allegiance to us," the man said craftily.

"All right, all right! I swear! SHUT IT OFF! I'M BEGGING YOU!" The OSCFB man snapped his fingers again, and the screens went blank. Chris collapsed to the ground with relief.

The men then turned to James, who made a choking sound and threw up his hands defensively. "I'll join you, I'll join you! You think I'm crazy enough to let _that_ happen to me?" He pointed at the others. Chris was rolling around on the ground, moaning curses upon Sailor Moon; Christy was also on the floor and struggling to recover; Sandy was clinging frantically to Chelsea, nearly hyperventilating as he stared with intense, bloodshot eyes at the surrounding guards.

Satisfied, the man looked to Chelsea, but her eyes were glowing strangely and her hair seemed to be flying around in an odd manner.

"I won't let you hurt my friends," Chelsea said in a weird voice. "Spaceheart, guide me in the path for peace! Take THIS!" She held up her hands, and a beam of light shot out of them, heading straight for the head OSCFB man and--

--didn't do much.

The guy blinked. "Um...what exactly was that supposed to do?"

"The Spaceheart thingy didn't work!" Sandy yelled in frustration.

The glow in Chelsea's eyes faded, and her hair stopped flying around. "Uh - well, I tried!" she said helplessly. "Guess I should've listened to Dad when he was teaching me how to do it right. Don't hurt me! I'm nice!" With a little squeal she darted to hide behind the recovered Chris, who glared at her.

"You _know_, you really aren't being fair," James spoke up tentatively in a last gamble for their freedom. "I mean, you kidnap us and then blackmail us into turning on our loved ones and joining up with you. But I mean, that's not very smart, is it? If you make us work for you against our will, we're gonna eventually turn on _you_ and escape, and then you'll be in even more trouble than ever. If I were you, it would be wiser to have us--" he stopped himself just in time from saying "executed," which would have been the logical thing for OSCFB to do to them, "--have us set free. Because then," he cast around for a convincing-sounding reason, "uh, then we can all be happy and live in peace like Heero Yuy and King Peacecraft would have wanted." Chelsea beamed at him happily while the others shot him exasperated looks.

OSCFB seemed to be buying it, though. "Hm...well, I suppose you're right. Never mind, you're free to go."

"Awesome!" Sandy couldn't help saying as their manacles were being taken off. Just at that moment, one of the guards suddenly punched him in the stomach for no particular reason. "Ow..."

"Hey, what'd you do that for?" Chelsea exclaimed indignantly.

"Don't sweat it. It's the Maxwell Family Curse," Sandy grunted as he doubled over, wincing. "Manacles and being punched in the stomach. Happens all the time."

"Oh. Okay."

The Neo Generation Gundam Brats started to walk off into the sunset, heading for their Gundams and then home, satisfied in the fact that they had successfully completed their mission to rescue James Barton. The OSCFB man's voice suddenly drifted up from behind them.

"You know..._if_ you became part of the Outer Space Colony Freedom Bureau...we have hour-long coffee breaks."

The Brats stopped, looking at each other.

"And...we've got a pool hall and a good arcade. What do you say?"

They looked at each other, and they slowly grinned, then turned back to the guy. "Well, in _that_ case..."

---------------------------

Villainous laughter reverberated throughout the secret base, the voice of OSCFB's leader accompanied by five younger voices.

to be continued...


	12. Part 12: Flying Chickens

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 12 - Flying Chickens**

Quatre slumped onto a park bench, in a rather confused state of mind. "Duo-puppy ran away. BAD puppy! I will have to punish him when I find him again. And also...I need chocolate!"

Satisfied now with some sort of plan, Quatre hopped up and trotted on to look for a candy store.

---------------------------

Duo was wandering around aimlessly, not really sure what to do. The first thing he had done, once he was sure he had truly escaped, was to buy a new Instant Hair Kit and replace his braid. But now what? He didn't want to go back to the Preventers, since Lady Une would just make him bodyguard her again. He wasn't about to go back to SONC or the Zero Clan and get killed or imprisoned again, sooo...

"Hey," he suddenly exclaimed, "why don't I just - go home?"

Um...I don't know...yeah, you go do that.

Duo started to head for his house, when suddenly Hilde walked out of a grocery store, carrying what she _always_ seemed to be carrying: a grocery bag. Seeing the braided figure walking along the other side of the street, she promptly gasped and dropped it. "Duo! You're alive!"

---------------------------

Noin glared at the blonde woman, as she tugged unsuccessfully at the ropes that bound her wrists behind her. "Dorothy, you'll pay for this! And you Maganacs, too! You've all turned traitor!"

"We serve Quatre-sama, and when he is gone, we serve his beautiful and clever wife, Dorothy!" they all chanted in unison.

Dorothy smirked. "That's right, Noin. You can't escape. DTO will rule the world, and there's _nothing_ you can do about it. I have Treize on my side," she didn't mention that Treize had the mentality of a five-year-old at the moment, "and the Maganacs to protect me, plus all the soldiers and villainous resources that REO offers. And what's more - we have captured your Preventers leader, a certain Colonel Lady Une!"

Noin growled angrily. "Dorothy, no matter how hard you try, you canNOT take over the world and ruin the peace we all worked so hard for during the Eve Wars!"

"Why not?"

"Because...because we're the good guys! You evil villains never win!"

Dorothy laughed. "My, my, so sure of yourself. Well, we'll see how you're talking after the Maganacs are finished with you!" She turned away. "Boys! Torture her! Make her tell us where Quatre is, then KILL HER!"

The Maganacs all saluted. "Ma'am, yes ma'am! O lovely and clever wife of Quatre-sama, we shall obey all orders!"

Chuckling evilly, Dorothy left the room.

Noin watched apprehensively, sweat trickling down her face, as Rashid came closer and closer...

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

FutureDuo glided down corridor after Nerd-filled corridor, eyes seemingly blank. His mind was racing, formulating different escape plans. He had to get out of here...he had to get off the Nerds' mothership and get back to Earth, so that he could again be with the one he loved...

Behind him, FutureWufei followed silently, ray gun out and fully charged.

A Nerd-possessed guard by one of the spaceship hangars looked up at FutureDuo's approach. "State-your-identification-and-business."

"Earthling-Prisoner-#000020," FutureDuo answered emotionlessly.

The man nodded. "Identification-confirmed. A-member-of-the-elite,-high-ranking-officers'-association."

"I-wish-to-complete-a-top-secret-mission-on-Earth,-using-one-of-the-terra-transports."

"Please-give-clearance-code-for-top-secret-mission."

Having hacked into the Nerds' main computer to find the code, FutureDuo laid his hand on the electronic pad the man held up and mentally directed this code onto the pad's computer chip.

The man nodded in satisfaction. "You-are-cleared. Good-luck,-comrade."

FutureDuo saluted, then strode confidently into the hangar, the icy emptiness in his eyes melting as his lips curved into a mad smile. The great Shinigami couldn't be outwitted by mere little bits of _candy_...

Behind him, FutureWufei, after having given a code of his own, slipped undetected into another transport.

---------------------------

"Where _are_ they?" FutureTrowa exclaimed worriedly. "We haven't received any transmissions from them for nearly five and a half hours!"

"NO! Stupid Colby, he should have voted TINA off!" FutureHeero and FutureHilde shrieked together.

"Ha ha!" FutureDorothy laughed, "That's payback for when you guys dissed Jerri!"

"_I_ said Tina was going to win from the very start, didn't I?" FutureSally said smugly.

"Shut up, Sally!" everyone yelled.

"We shouldn't be fighting over this!" FutureQuatre ordered, but no one was paying attention to him. He was sulking over Elisabeth having lost, anyway.

Ignoring all this, FutureZechs opened up a communications line and typed in a few commands, as FutureTrowa hovered agitatedly by his shoulder. "Chelsea, do you read? Christy? Chris, Sandy, anyone? Chelsea, come in!"

Nothing but static greeted them.

FutureTrowa clenched his fist. "Milliardo, something is wrong..."

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE PAST:

Zechs Merquise perched on Wing Zero's open hatch, typing away at the laptop he had hooked up to the two Gundams' main computers. His eyes were pulsating softly with the yellow color that indicated ZERO system influence. Even as he thought he was programming Zero and Epyon, what he didn't realize was that it was _they_ who were really programming _him_.

"I have now set up the coordinates. Earth and colony #9284759847598274543, you will BOTH be destroyed! And then, Treize Khushrenada, it will be your turn...I have taken care of Heero Yuy, and now you too will meet your demise, along with your stupid DTO! And with Earth out of the way - THE COLONIES WILL RULE! BWAHAHAHAHA!"

---------------------------

Up in space, a certain colony started to slowly drift away from the L3 cluster, heading leisurely towards the Earth.

---------------------------

Relena was pacing around what was once Lady Une's office. Except for Sally, she was, sadly, now the last Preventer left, since Hilde had gone shopping.

After a moment she stopped, looking at the temptingly close button that would activate the vid-screen and be able to broadcast all over the planet. For a moment she hesitated, listening intently for any sound that would indicate that Sally was coming back from the coffee machine. Then Relena suddenly allowed herself a maniac grin and pressed the button down hard.

_"People of Earth! I am Relena Peacecraft! I was once Queen of the World and a princess of the Sanc Kingdom! I will be your leader in these troubled times! VOTE FOR ME!"_

With a last smile, she switched off the comm and let loose with a peal of Dorothy-sounding laughter. The next election was HERS!

---------------------------

Catherine rubbed at her eyes, exhausted. She needed coffee. She kissed Trowa's forehead, then got up and left the room, intending to come back soon.

For a few moments, the room was silent, save for the quiet beeping of the monitors. And then--

The figure on the bed stirred, and two disoriented eyes of deep forest green cracked open.

to be continued...


	13. Part 13: Nerds In the Past

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 13 - Nerds In the Past...**

"Treize-sama...?"

Treize looked up from the dolls he was playing with and frowned when he saw the lady with glasses peering in from the doorway. "Hi. Do I know you?"

Her eyes widened. "Treize-sama! It _is_ you!" Bounding forward, she clasped the startled man's hands and stared at him with a happy smile, tears of joy shining in her eyes as she drank in every feature. "Oh, my darling Treize-sama! I thought I would never see you again! I am yours to command, so what task do you have for me?"

"Uh...what...?"

"Do you feel well? Do you want me to draw a rose-scented bath for you? Are there any annoyances you wish me to get rid of?" She couldn't help licking her lips and glancing down at the gun on her hip.

"Um..." His face suddenly brightened. "Oh yeah! I remember now, you're the nice lady who gave me candy!"

"Do you wish candy of me?" she asked anxiously, pulling stuff out of Hammerspace. "Here are some M&Ms, some Blo-Pops, Jawbreakers, Hershey's, bubble gum, Airheads..."

Treize stared with wide eyes at the swiftly-growing pile of sweets that were accumulating around them.

"And here's some Nerds--" Une suddenly stopped and stared suspiciously at the box of Nerds in her hand. Then she threw it on the floor and started stamping it to cardboardey, candy mush, screaming furiously the whole time. "I apologize for my behavior, Treize-sama," she said after a few minutes, when she was satisfied with the state of the candy, "but it is better to be safe than sorry."

"Mm...chocolate..." he mumbled dreamily.

"Would you like me to get you some milk?"

"Yah!" he exclaimed through a mouthful of junk food.

Colonel Une stood and headed for the door, just when Dorothy walked in. "Treize, I was going to-- UNE!"

"Dorothy!"

Both women immediately whipped out their weapons and pointed them at each other.

"How did you escape?" Dorothy demanded furiously, "We just captured Lucrezia Noin; I thought you were tied up!"

"Well, I got away," Une hissed, pushing her glasses back up her nose with one hand.

"Yah, she 'ice 'ady," Treize said, his words garbled through the candy.

Dorothy lowered her gun thoughtfully, studying Une with interest. "The glasses...Une, you are _Colonel_ Une at the moment, right?"

The dark-haired woman nodded.

"And that means that you are Treize's little puppy and will do whatever he wants?"

Another nod.

"Which means that you are no longer head of the Preventers and are no longer fighting to keep the peace?"

Yet another affirmation.

Dorothy smiled evilly. "Good. Then I order you to undertake a mission to destroy the Preventer organization and kill off the rest of the Gundam pilots."

"Don't be an idiot!" Une snarled, "I'll never take orders from you!"

Dorothy shrugged and turned to Treize. "Treize, tell Ms. Une here to undertake a mission to destroy the Preventer organization and kill off the Gundam pilots."

Treize blinked. "Uh...what she said."

Colonel Une immediately snapped a salute to him. "Yes sir, right away sir!" Then she turned and ran out of the room.

Dorothy chuckled villainously. "Hahahaha! Yet another slave at my disposal!"

Treize slowly held up his doll. "Oh dear me...Molly-doll has chocolate all over her face. BAD Molly-doll! You will need a bath!"

That's when Dorothy suddenly noticed the crushed box of Nerds. "Hey, what's that?"

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

FutureTrowa and FutureMilliardo were slumped in a couple of chairs in the Preventers' base, in a state of depression, while everyone else was still fighting over the outcome of _Survivor_.

"I _still_ say Jerri should have won," FutureDorothy insisted, pounding her fist on the table.

"But Elisabeth was so nice! She deserved to win," FutureQuatre objected, looking troubled.

"Nah, Colby beat 'em all, hands down," FutureHeero drawled, glancing, bored, out of one of the windows.

"Yeah, except for one thing - HE DIDN'T WIN," FutureUne grumbled, glaring at him.

FutureTrowa glanced up in annoyance, gritting his teeth in anger as he watched them squabble over something so trivial when they had bigger problems to worry about.

"Hey," he suddenly called, standing and silencing the assembled group with an icy glare. "Two of our friends are currently prisoners of an alien race which plans to take over the world; a delusional space colony organization which has captured my son is threatening the planet; and the rest of our kids have suddenly disappeared while going to rescue him. I BELIEVE that at least one of these qualifies for some slight semblance to _concern_ on our part!" His voice had been steadily rising as he spoke, and now he was all but screaming. "HELLO, PEOPLE! WE'RE IN TROUBLE! WE NEED TO GET TO WORK!"

Everyone stared at him silently for a moment.

Finally, FutureHeero spoke. "Why didn't you just tell us that in the first place?"

FutureTrowa groaned, collapsing back into the chair. At that moment, the vid-screen suddenly activated itself, and everyone whirled around to face it, eyes widening in shock.

_"Sandy?"_ FutureHilde half-sobbed, "Is that really you? Oh baby, are you all right? Is James all right?"

"I am fine, Mother," he replied coolly, his eyes cold, "as is my comrade-in-arms. We are here to announce that if you do not surrender and give us complete control of your World Nation's government, we shall drop a colony onto the Earth--"

"Oh, what an original idea," FutureMilliardo muttered under his breath.

"--and completely destroy any and all military force you might futilely decide to send against us."

Everyone was staring at the image of Sandy in shock. "Sandy? What are you talking about?" FutureHilde asked cautiously. "You sound almost like you've--"

"Joined the enemy?" another familiar voice finished. Chris's face appeared next to Sandy's. "You are quite correct in that conclusion."

"WHAT?!" FutureSally burst out in a Wufei-like rage (being married to the guy for so long, he was starting to rub off on her). "How _dare_ you? Chris, you have brought dishonor and shame upon this family, and you are no longer a son of mine! I'm disowning you!"

"Huh?!" For a moment, Chris seemed to be at a loss for words, and a shocked look was growing on his face. "I...I'll be right back." He quickly disappeared from the screen in what seemed like a state of distracted agitation.

"Sandy, I demand to see my daughter right now!" FutureHeero ordered, and FutureQuatre quickly echoed his words.

Sandy shrugged. "Okay. Yo, Christy! Chelsea! Your dads wanna talk to you!"

The two girls appeared on-screen. "Hi Daddy!" Chelsea exclaimed with a cheery smile on her face. She waved to her father ecstatically and was nearly jumping up and down with excitement. "Look at me, look at me, I'm on TV!"

"Hello angel," FutureQuatre greeted happily, waving back, "I see you!"

"Oh, how embarrassing," FutureDorothy muttered, covering her face with one hand.

Christy pushed Chelsea out of the way. "Greetings, Father," she said in a clipped voice, and nodded her head once in curt acknowledgement. "Do not come after us or try to resist, or I will kill you."

"Like heck you will," FutureHeero said flatly. The two smirked at each other.

"Mission accepted," Christy murmured, sliding a finger over her gun. At the exact same moment, the two threw back their heads and let loose with a peal of spine-tingling laughter.

"Oooh, Hee-chan, you know that always gives me chills!" FutureRelena giggled, glomping his arm. He sighed and rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

James appeared on-screen. "Hi, Dad. Um...just so you know, I'm not really with these people, okay? It's just that I value my life and sanity."

"I see," FutureTrowa said emotionlessly.

Sandy came back on. "Anyway, back to business. Preventers, do you surrender, or will you insist on putting up a fight?"

"We're fighting," FutureLady Une said angrily, "There's no way we're going to sit back and let some evil organization like yours take over the Earth and destroy this peace we've all worked so hard to build! Even if you're the Gundam pilots' children, we won't give in to you if you insist on working for the enemy!"

"Easy for you to say. They're not your kids!" FutureTrowa said indignantly.

Sandy cocked his head, grinning darkly at FutureLady Une. "As you say. We shall soon commence our attack. Be ready." Then he blew his mother a kiss and terminated the connection.

"Oooooh, that boy is GROUNDED when he gets home!" FutureHilde fumed, stomping around the room to vent her anger.

FutureDorothy snatched a sword out of Hammerspace. "I am soooo mad...I need to stab something." She eyed FutureQuatre with interest.

"No!" he exclaimed, backing away, "Don't even think about it, Dorothy!"

"Aw, nuts."

to be continued...


	14. Part 14: A New Leader

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 14 - A New Leader**

Trowa blinked, trying to remove the fuzziness from his vision, then slowly sat up and looked around the hospital room. He thought back to when he had last been conscious, and tried to remember what had happened to him. Quatre...Quatre had...

He looked down, and noticed that his stab wounds were almost completely healed. Well, that was one good thing, at least. Standing gingerly, Trowa put his hand on the wall for support and made his way to the door, intending to get out of there. A lot of things were happening, and he had no idea what had been going on while he had been asleep.

He was startled by a light thump and a splash, accompanied by a shocked gasp. "Trowa?!"

Snapping his head up, he saw Catherine standing almost right in front of him in the doorway, seemingly unaware of the puddle of dark hot liquid that was pooling around her feet from the Styrofoam cup she had dropped.

Her eyes filled with tears of relief. "Oh Trowa..." He returned the embrace as she suddenly wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly, sobbing. "Oh Trowa, you were asleep for so long! So many things have been happening...oh Trowa, I swear I'll kill him for it!"

He glanced down at her, startled. "Huh?"

"He'll pay...for hurting you," she sniffed.

"What-- Who will pay?"

"Quatre! Oh Trowa, he was the one who did this to you! I'll kill him!"

"Cathy, no!" He pulled away and held her shoulders, trying to catch her eyes with his own. "Don't talk that way. What Quatre did is - er, understandable, I think. Sort of. Not really, but still, I don't want you to go trying to kill him!"

Not seeming to hear him, she pulled away and walked slowly to the window, looking out over the street.

"Catherine, could you tell me what's been happening?"

"I don't know much, but I know that lots of stuff's been going on between the Preventers and DTO. Zechs is still missing...Heero's still dead, as far as we know, and Wufei's gone to kill Quatre for hurting you, just like I want to do."

Trowa hid his sudden alarm. "I see. Looks like I _really_ need to get back to headquarters. Does DTO still have Une?"

Catherine shrugged. "I don't know."

Trowa sighed. "Well, I'm heading off for the Preventers'. Catherine, stay at home and _don't go after Quatre._ Do you hear me?"

Silence.

Trowa sighed again, then grabbed his clothes and walked out, intending to change before leaving. SONC had crumbled, and it appeared that he was now sorely needed...

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

FutureTrowa frowned, reaching deeper into his pocket. Where _were_ those darn things...?

"Trowa? What are you looking for?" FutureUne asked a few minutes later. She watched the Heavyarms pilot crawling around on the ground, grumbling under his breath.

"I can't find my car keys."

"Maybe Duo stole them," FutureNoin suggested as everyone else started peering around at the floor.

"Why would Duo steal my car keys?"

"Because...he always does stuff like that?"

FutureTrowa snorted. "Oh, never mind. Will one of you give me a lift home later?"

FutureNoin shrugged. "Sure."

Everyone nodded and resumed talking.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE PAST:

"What are you going to do to me?" Noin exclaimed fearfully.

Rashid grinned evilly and held up a toothpick. "This." He pulled up her sleeve and poked her on the bare shoulder with it.

She looked up at him in confusion. "What are you _doing_?"

"Torturing you!" He poked her again. "Now, where is Quatre-sama?" Poke.

She glared at him in annoyance. "How should I know? We surrendered him to SONC, and that's the last we ever saw of him."

"Tell us the truth!" Poke. "Where is Quatre-sama?"

"I'm telling you, I don't know!"

Poke. "Do you continue to resist? Where is Quatre-sama!"

She gritted her teeth, getting more and more annoyed by the minute at the relentless poking. "I _don't know_. And you are REALLY ticking me off, Rashid. That's your name, right?"

He bowed in confirmation, then poked her again. "Tell us! I shall give you three more chances before we eliminate your life!"

Noin sighed. "I don't know," she repeated.

Poke. "That was your first chance!"

"WILL YOU CUT IT OUT ALREADY?! I don't know where they are! I should never have left...stupid Dorothy!"

Poke. "That was your second--"

CRASH!

They all looked up, surprised, as a figure suddenly crashed through one of the floor-to-ceiling windows and landed, standing up quickly with two guns pointed straight at the Maganacs. "You will surrender Lieutenant Noin to me right now!" the woman barked. She nudged her glasses back up the bridge of her nose with one of her knuckles.

The Maganacs all looked at each other and shrugged. One of them went over and untied Noin, who stood quickly and glanced uncertainly at Lady Une. Sure, she was glad at being rescued, but those glasses were making her nervous.

Une made a sharp motion with one hand towards the shattered ground-floor window, and Noin nodded, striding over to it quickly and hopping out onto the grass. With a nod of her own to the surprisingly calm-looking Maganacs, Lady Une turned and scrambled out herself. Once outside, she turned her weapons on Noin, who raised her hands in the air.

"Now Lady, don't do anything drastic," the black-haired woman said cautiously, knowing she had been right to not trust the glasses.

"All right, listen to me, Lieutenant Noin," Une said crisply. "I have been ordered by my darling Treize-sama to take down the Preventer organization and kill the Gundam pilots. Now, are you going to tell me where the pilots are?"

"Never," Noin growled through gritted teeth.

Lady Une narrowed her eyes. "Does that mean that your loyalty still holds to the Preventers, even if I offered you to join with me and my darling Treize-sama?"

"Une, I swore to always stick with the Preventers and dedicate my life to preventing more death and wars. I'll always stay true to what I think is right! Even if I have to fight, hurt, or even kill someone who was once my friend and the former leader of the cause I fight so hard to serve, I am still loyal to what the Preventers stand for."

Une shrugged. "So you won't help me. Have it your way, then." Her finger tightened on the trigger, but Noin was ready. Before she could fire, the Preventer leapt up and kicked the gun out of Une's hand, quickly scooping it up as it landed on the ground near her.

Caught by surprise, the colonel gasped and stumbled backwards, but then her face hardened as she brought up her other gun and started to fire. Dodging the bullets, which were poorly-aimed out of distraction, Noin dove at Une and reached to rip off the glasses, but Une turned her face away at the last moment and brought up her hand to punch Noin hard in the chest.

Doubled over and coughing, Noin raised her head weakly to see Colonel Une's ice-cold eyes glaring down at her, as she slowly raised the gun again and pointed it at Noin's head.

Just then, a rumbling noise was heard overhead, and an Aries mobile suit roared into view. "Noin, grab hold!" a voice shouted over the loudspeaker system, and Noin instinctively reached up to snatch the cable that suddenly drifted down next to her.

"No!" Une yelled, jumping to grab hold of Noin, but tripped over a rock (can't blame her, in those boots of hers) and stumbled to her knees. Raising her weapon, she frantically fired over and over again, but her target was very difficult to hit and her shots disappeared somewhere off into the dark. (Apparently, it is nighttime now.)

There was a clicking noise as her gun ran out of bullets, and she hurled it away, cursing. "I'll get you yet, Noin...you and the Preventers..." Getting slowly to her feet, she trudged away to the Winner mansion's garage, where she knew she could easily nick a car.

The mobile suit landed a safe distance away, and Noin let go of the cable and collapsed to sit on the ground with a tired sigh as she watched the cockpit open and the pilot come out.

"Hey, Noin. You okay?"

Noin smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. We should be getting back to headquarters quickly, though. Thanks, Sally."

The doctor raised a hand, smiling. "Don't mention it."

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

The air in the enormous hangar was grim and strangely quiet despite the usual noises of last-minute preparation. Mechanics worked to finish up final touches on the mobile suits, while the mechs' pilots were getting ready for their next dreaded battle.

"I can't believe we're gonna have to fight against the kids," FutureHilde sighed, adjusting something on the sleeve of her space suit.

"And we don't have Duo or Wufei to back us up, either," FutureHeero muttered worriedly. He absently drummed his fingers on the side of Wing Zero's foot. "That could be a problem." He turned to FutureDorothy and FutureSally. "You two will be fine protecting the base, right?"

The women nodded. They both were perfectly capable of putting up a decent defense against any intruders that might happen to get past the mobile suit pilots.

"Dorothy, you head for the control room and take charge of the laser cannons. I'll be watching the radar and scanning the areas around our location," FutureSally said, and FutureDorothy nodded.

"Right. See you later. Good luck, Heero."

"What about me?" They all turned to see a hurt-looking blonde standing behind them.

"Quatre," FutureDorthy said with narrowed eyes and a flat voice.

He gave a little sulky pout. "What?"

Her face suddenly softened into a sad smile. "Don't get killed - or I'll kill you."

"Huh?" He was about to say more when his wife suddenly pulled him close and gave him the kiss of his life, which had even FutureHeero and the others blushing.

"Um...I'm gonna - go check on Zero now, see you later," FutureHeero mumbled. He quickly jumped up and floated through the room's delightfully reduced gravity up to his Gundam's cockpit. The others muttered similar excuses and hurried away.

---------------------------

FutureWufei walked down the streets of...somewhere, chuckling quietly to himself. Their plan was going well. More than half the people he passed were fellow prisoners like himself, continuing to masquerade as normal humans until the time came to throw off the facade and put their plan in action.

He smiled. Even at this very moment, more and more Earthlings all over the planet were being taken under the Nerds' control, and he was pleased to see so many of the empty candy boxes lying piled up in trash cans or being held by people. Soon...soon they could attack all-out, overpower the pitiful remainder of the population, and the Earth and its human prey would be theirs forever.

And then he frowned, looking up to confirm that the target he was stalking was still walking up in front of him. Yes. That braid was unmistakable. Even so, FutureDuo was making him very uncomfortable. He suspected that the brainwashed look in the man's eyes was false, and he knew that if the former Gundam pilot had really managed to throw off their control and was now free, then he was dangerous if he ended up in the wrong hands (namely, the Preventers') and spilled all the secrets of the Wonkan invasion.

FutureWufei narrowed his eyes. He wouldn't let that happen. "Shinigami" was quickly becoming expendable, and the only thing that stopped FutureWufei from killing the traitor here and now, was the fact that he very well might need to use him to get to Maxwell's son. That boy was the key to it all.

He clenched his fist. 'Sandy-Maxwell,' he thought, 'you-_will_-accept-your-destiny. You-have-no-choice. Even-if-we-have-to-kill-you-and-your-father-in-the-end,-we-WILL-force-you-to-show-your-true-power-and-bring-us-victory.'

Up ahead of him, FutureDuo continued to walk, absently toying with a key ring he had in his hands. He grinned, being careful not to look back. FutureWufei could follow him around all he wanted; it did not matter. The Belovéd One was the only thing that mattered now.

He quickly put a hand in front of his mouth to stifle his laughter.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE PAST:

Relena, The Last Preventer, was lounging around in Lady Une's office, sitting in the big soft rolly chair with her feet propped up on the desk and drinking soda while watching The Powerpuff Girls on TV. She was so _bored_... Where was everyone, anyway?

Just then, the doors burst open and Sally hurried in, followed closely by Noin. "Relena, did anything happen while I was gone?" she asked in a rush.

Relena nodded. "Yup. Y'see, Mojo Jojo's trying to take over the world again, but he's the bad guy, so the Powerpuff Girls have to stop him before--"

"Not on TV!" Sally groaned, grabbing the remote and switching it off. "I mean did you get any calls from anyone! Has anything happened in _real life?_ We're in the middle of a crisis, here, Relena, it's important!"

"Oh!" Relena shrugged. "Nope, no one called. Oh wait a minute...I think maybe Trowa did. He said he was coming here or something, but I forgot, 'cause he called when the robot was about to cream the Powerpuff Girls, so I wasn't listening--"

"He's coming here?" Sally broke in worriedly. "Oh no..."

"He's not out of the hospital yet, is he?" Noin asked, and Sally shook her head.

"I don't know...I don't know what to do; everything's so crazy and everyone's missing..."

"Not _quite_ everyone."

"Trowa!" the two cried in unison, whirling around to find him leaning casually against the doorframe, though his face and eyes were serious.

"You don't have to worry. Thanks to Quatre, I got shocked back to my senses. SONC is gone now. That whole thing started because they must have knocked me insane when they hit me on the head back on Libra, but I'm fine now."

Sally breathed a sigh of relief. She walked over and yanked Relena out of her chair before collapsing tiredly into it. "This is nuts. Everyone's trying to kill everyone else, Zechs is _still_ missing, Dorothy's turned on us...I can't do this anymore! Where is Lady Une, anyway?"

"It's Colonel Une, now," Noin said quietly. "She put her glasses on." Sally groaned and buried her head in her arms as Trowa sighed and Relena looked on in confusion. "Maybe she did it so she'd be able to escape. That's why she was trying to kill me, because she switched personalities and loyalties and I refused to help her. Now she's just another one of Dorothy's pawns, being controlled through Treize. Who, by the way, isn't much of a threat right now."

"What do you mean?" Trowa asked.

Noin shrugged. "I overheard some things. Apparently he fell off the roof of the Preventer base earlier and hit his head - like you, come to think of it - and now he's acting like a five-year-old. It's really Dorothy who's the enemy now. She has ordered Une to destroy the Preventer organization and kill all the Gundam pilots."

"Hm. Well, it should be simple to take care of Une, shouldn't it? Just take off her glasses," Trowa said.

Noin shrugged helplessly. "I tried, but she fought me off before I could. Nice idea, if only we could get back to her face-to-face. But I have no idea where she is now."

"We're going need all the help we can get. Where's Hilde?" Trowa asked, starting to take charge.

"Grocery shopping," Sally mumbled.

"Oh. Figures." He walked over to one of the windows, looking out without seeing anything as his brow furrowed in concentration. "We're going to need a strong leader. You're cracking, Sally."

"Much as I hate to admit it," she sighed. "I'm a medic and a specialist in guerrilla warfare. This really isn't my thing."

"I can be leader!" Relena said brightly.

"NO!"

"Why don't you be the leader, Trowa?" Noin asked.

He shook his head. "I'm needed as a soldier, as are you. If only--"

At that moment, the doors blew open. "Fear not! It is I!" a high-pitched voice announced loudly, and the handful of remaining Preventers stared as a familiar-looking little redheaded girl walked in haughtily, flanked by several bodyguards.

"I thought your mom told you to stay home and finish playing your new Final Fantasy game," Sally said sharply.

Lady Une's adopted daughter grinned with false sweetness. "Yes, dear Friend Of Mother, but you need my help. _I_ shall serve as your leader, since it is my duty as the daughter of Treize Khushrenada!"

"Who is probably making his little dollies some tea right about now," Noin muttered under her breath.

Mariemaia snapped her head toward the woman. "What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Humph." Mariemaia sniffed, then stalked up to Sally and glared at her pointedly.

"If you think I'm moving from this chair, you're dead wrong," the blonde Chinese woman said flatly.

Trowa sighed. "Oh, just let her, Sally. She _is_ Treize's daughter after all, and she can't really do much harm. Besides, she's had experience in this kind of thing before."

They all glared at the little girl, who grinned sheepishly.

Grudgingly, Sally got up and stalked over to stand by Trowa, making sure to glower at the red-haired brat the whole time.

"All right," Mariemaia barked, "My first order as your new leader is to get me some coffee! I can't work under such conditions!" She gasped in surprise and outrage as four packets of Maxwell House Instant were chucked at her head.

to be continued...


	15. Part 15: The Looming Threat of PINK!

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 15 - The Looming Threat Of - PINK!**

Duo gasped from having the breath violently squeezed out of him, and he found Hilde hugging him so hard he was in danger of turning blue.

"Hey!" he choked. "Don't hug so hard!"

"Oh! I'm so sorry Duo!" she exclaimed, jumping up and pulling him to his feet, "I didn't mean to, but-- You're alive! I can't believe it!"

"Oh...that's nice," he said in mild confusion.

Hilde took off on a stream of mostly senseless chattering, dragging him by the arm in the general direction of home as as he trailed behind acceptingly.

All of a sudden he ground to a halt, jerking her back a little. "Hilde," he said suspiciously, "You aren't taking me back to the Preventer base, are you?"

"Uh - well, not right now, but eventually, yeah," she said, looking confused. "Why?"

"I am NOT bodyguarding Lady Une again!" he burst out, "That got me captured - twice - and KILLED!"

"Oh. Okay then! I'll be forever at your side, Duo! I forsake my title as an honorable Preventer in order to join up with you and your new random, pointless, evil organization!"

He looked startled. "Huh?"

"Well, that's what this is all about, isn't it?"

"Uh...sure... Um, we are the, er, Candy Cane Confederates, and we want to...terrorize the world with pink!"

"Yeah!" Pause. "How're we gonna do that?"

"Paint! Lots and lots of pink paint!"

"Yeah!"

"Pink ribbons and pink paper and pink balloons and pink--"

"Penguins!"

"If you say so."

"Yeah!" Hilde ran off, dragging Duo behind her again. He was looking thoroughly confused.

---------------------------

Wufei was walking down the street, still looking for Quatre. He had been for some time, and shall probably continue to do so for some time more.

---------------------------

Dorothy was glaring at the crushed box of Nerds suspiciously. Then suddenly, she thought she saw just a tiny bit of movement, as if one of the Nerds had miraculously escaped and was now struggling desperately out of the tangy pink power that was once its comrades.

Dorothy scooped up a handful of the cardboard-and-tangy-powder mess and squinted at it, but the sole surviving Nerd wasn't moving anymore. That is, if it had even been moving in the first place.

A few minutes later, Treize looked up in surprise as the blonde-haired woman suddenly let out a soft cry, stumbling backwards clumsily. "What is it?" he asked, sitting on the candy wrapper-littered floor.

There was a long pause, and then low chuckling from Dorothy. When she turned around, she smiled coolly at him. "Oh-nothing,-my-dear-Treize,-don't-mind-me." Then she walked out of the room, laughing evilly to herself. Her eyes were cold and had a strange look in them, as if they were not her own.

Treize simply stared after her in confusion.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

"Agh! Nooooo! Not again!" Resisting the urge to fling her paddle across the room, Chelsea flumped down into a nearby chair, pouting. "I can NEVER hit it!"

"You just have to have the right touch," Christy said haughtily, carrying on a fast-paced game of ping-pong with James at the same time she was talking to Chelsea. At that moment, James smacked the little white ball particularly well, and it whistled past Christy's shoulder to ricochet off the walls several times before smacking Chris on the forehead and then bouncing off into a corner.

"OW!" Chris yelled. "Will you _please_ quit hitting me with those infernal balls!"

"If you don't like it, get out," Christy grumbled. She Death Glared James and Chelsea, who were laughing at her, as she got down on her hands and knees to fish the ball out from under the desk it had rolled under.

"Hm...good point."

Just then, the door was flung open and Sandy bounded in, ripping open a bag of Skittles as he did so and pouring the whole thing into his mouth before tossing the bag away. He chewed and swallowed the candy before delivering his message.

"OSCFB says we gotta go out and fight now," he said, wiping his mouth. "Mom and the others are attacking."

"Oh, I hoped it wouldn't come to this," Chelsea said worriedly. "I don't want to fight my daddy."

"Heh, bring it on," Christy said with a dangerous smile, still holding the ping-pong ball she had just retrieved.

Chris snorted. "Humph. I am busy. Doing important things like getting the best score on this Internet Chess Game. I cannot be bothered to go out to battle."

James held up his hands. "Hey, if at least one of you guys isn't fighting, I'm sure as heck not going to either. I'm still a good guy."

"Yeah, yeah, we remember," Sandy said carelessly, now messing with the coffee-maker in a corner of the room. "You go and fight, Chrissie, I don't feel like it."

"Weaklings," the Yuy girl sniffed, before flouncing out of the room.

"NOW JUST WAIT ONE SECOND!" Chris thundered, leaping up and dashing after her, "Just WHO are you calling a 'weakling,' Christy?!"

Sandy snorted. "She really knows how to get to him, doesn't she?"

"Sandyyyy," Chelsea whined, "why didn't you save any candy for meeee?"

He paused a minute, then rolled his eyes dismissively and dug around in his pocket for a package of SweetTarts.

"Yay!" she squealed, and dug in.

"You know, what I don't understand is the obsession with candy throughout all this," James commented off-handedly.

Sandy shrugged. "Whatever. Your serve." Taking up Christy's discarded ping-pong paddle, he passed the ball to James.

The Barton boy nodded and then tossed the ball up into the air to serve it as Chelsea looked on.

---------------------------

FutureHeero sliced through suit after enemy suit, fighting his way closer and closer to the OSCFB space fortress. A light in the cockpit near his head started beeping.

"Heero!" FutureQuatre's voice said in a burst of static, "Watch yourself, two new Gundams have just entered the battle zone!"

"Confirmed to be Angel Gem and Dragonfire," FutureNoin's voice added.

FutureHeero grinned evilly, gripping the controls. "All right. I'll take Christy. Trowa and Quatre will overpower Chris, and the rest of you try to infiltrate the base and take it over. Be sure to look out for the other three."

"Roger!"

The suits zoomed away in different directions.

Angel Gem headed straight for Wing Zero, which moved to meet it. Their sabres collided in a jolt of sizzling lightning; they flung themselves apart and struck each other once again. Christy was vicious, putting every ounce of skill and training she had behind her attack, but FutureHeero's defense was calm and smooth with experience. He waited for an opening, senses alert for every glimmer of movement both inside and outside the cockpit, and then finally his chance came.

He slashed and left a small, sparking scar across the Gundanium of Christy's suit, but he knew it had done little to damage the powerful mecha. Pressing forward, now on the offensive, he refused to let up, forcing her to stay occupied defending herself, unable to collect enough force to start attacking him again.

"CHRIS!" she screamed into the commlinks, "Tell the others to get out here NOW!"

However, Chris was quite busy at the moment. Assaulted by both Heavyarms and Sandrock at once, the strongest mechs on their side besides Wing Zero, the sweat was trickling down his face as he worked to fight off both Gundams.

"I will not give in!" he declared furiously, nicking the edge of Heavyarms' shoulder with a barely-missed swipe of his beam glaive, "I refuse to be defeated by an enemy stronger than myself!"

"You know, your father used to say that all the time, and I _still_ don't get it," FutureQuatre grumbled.

"Why do we only have two Gundams out here?" the leader of the OSCFB troops exclaimed when he saw only Chris and Christy fighting. "Someone go tell the other three to get out here, or they're FIRED!"

"Yes sir!" One of the other mobile suits blasted back to the OSCFB fortress.

---------------------------

"Ow!" Chelsea wailed, "You hit hard!"

"Sorry," Sandy said distractedly, concentrating on retrieving the ball and serving it back to James.

The door burst open and an annoyed-looking OSCFB officer stood there. "Gundam pilots! We're in trouble! The Preventers are attacking, and we need you out there! Get going, or the boss says you're fired!"

Chelsea gasped. "No!"

Sandy rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay. C'mon, you guys, we can watch a movie or something after we get back."

"Yay!" Chelsea cheered.

James shrugged. "Whatever."

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE PAST:

A car pulled up to the Preventer base, parking in one of the reserved spaces. The engine shut off and the door opened, and a dark-haired woman stepped out.

She was dressed strangely, in combat boots and a camaflouge outfit, with black marks streaked across her face. Over it all she wore a gray trench coat like a movie detective, with her hand stuck in the pocket which held a gun.

"Beware, Preventers," she hissed, not looking up, "I, Colonel Une, will bring you down by orders from my darling Treize-sama!" With that said, she stalked up to the doors and resolutely entered the Preventer headquarters.

Above her, watching from the roof, the figure of another woman stood, auburn curls brushing against her face. "Wherever you hide, Quatre," she purred, her graceful fingers playing with the sharp knife in her hand, "I will find you. The Preventers will hunt you down, and they will lead me to you."

---------------------------

Wufei is still walking. Don't worry, though, he's getting close.

---------------------------

Quatre wandered out of the store, munching on a chocolate bar, with even more candy stashed in his pockets. "Hum dee dum...what shall I do now?"

"ATTACK!"

"Ack!" Quatre yelped when a shower of pink paint suddenly splattered the doorway he had just walked out of.

"Aw, Hilde, you missed!"

"Well, I got a little of his back...but look, his shirt's pink anyway!"

Quatre craned his head up to see Duo and Hilde on the roof, surrounded by pink paint.

"Oh, look! Duo-puppy found a friend! What are you doing, Duo-puppy and Duo-puppy's friend?"

"We're making everything PINK!" Hilde yelled, jumping to the ground, and Duo followed a second later.

"Quatre, let's get something straight right now, before we go any further," Duo said firmly. "I AM NOT A DOG."

Quatre blinked. "Oh. Okay. Will you two join me on my quest to bring my friend Duo back to life?"

"Will you join our quest to turn the entire world pink?"

"Sure!"

"Sure!"

"All right then! You want some chocolate?"

"Yay!" Hilde shrieked happily, and once she had gobbled down the chocolate Quatre had courteously offered her, the three of them ran off in search of more innocent un-pink people and/or objects to terrorize.

---------------------------

The Nerd-possessed Dorothy stood in her giant, not-so-secret computer room, watching all the various vid-screens. She smiled. "Stupid-humans. Our-evil-plan-is-underway,-and-soon-we-shall-take-over-the-world-through-your-strange,-fascinating-obsession-with-candy!" She glanced to her right. "Zechs,-come-in!"

A static-filled screen made a "fzzt" sound before clearing into Zechs's face.

"Yes, Dorothy?"

"The-colony-has-been-successfully-deployed-on-its-crash--course-with-Earth,-correct?"

"Yes. Soon it will drop onto the Earth, and then that planet will be reduced to a ball of dirt. The rays of the sun will be blocked, and all life shall cease to exist!"

In the midst of his cackling, Dorothy frowned. "What-did-you-say? Zechs,-I-don't-WANT-all-life-to-cease-to-exist. I-want-to-_rule_-it! I-can't-rule-it-if-there's-nothing-_to_-rule."

Zechs shrugged. "Don't look at me, I'm only a ZERO system puppet, remember? Complain to _them!"_ He pointed at Zero and Epyon in the background.

Dorothy's eyes widened. "Oh-dear... All-right-Zechs,-that-is-all. You-are-dismissed."

Zechs saluted, then cut the transmission. Immediately, Dorothy hurried forward and started punching in buttons, intending to alert the Preventers. She was one of the bad guys, of course, but some things could be carried out only so far.

to be continued...


	16. Part 16: Foiled Plan

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 16 - Foiled Plan**

"Almost there!" FutureNoin yelled triumphantly. She, FutureHilde, and FutureZechs had fought their way close the fortress, and only needed to clear an entrance so they could get in.

Suddenly, alarms started beeping frantically, and she whipped her head around to see a mobile suit closing in on her fast. She just barely managed to duck away with a yell as the beam scythe came down on her. She struggled to regain control of her suit and fight back against her assailant.

Sandy was merciless in his attack, and he was practically zipping around Noin in circles, damaging her suit with each slice. The single Taurus was no match for his Gundam. Nearby, Chelsea was having similar results with FutureHilde's Taurus, though James was finding the Lighting Count to be a formidible opponent.

"Where's Chris and Christy?" Chelsea's voice crackled.

"Looks like they're fighting with the other Gundams," Sandy said shortly. "Hurry up and get these guys away from the base."

"Well, why don't YOU try going up against this guy?" James panted, desperately trying to concentrate on his battle with FutureZechs. "Uncle Milliardo, you're _good_."

"Thanks," FutureMilliardo said grimly, not letting up.

"Chelsea, stop it!" FutureHilde cried in frustration. "Why are you fighting us?"

"Um...because they told me to?"

"SANDY!!!!!!!!"

Sandy gulped at the fury in his mother's voice, and hesitated. FutureNoin struggled to take advantage of the pause in his attack; she stabbed at various buttons, trying to pull her suit together, then flew at him.

"Not so fast, Aunt Lu," he grunted, dodging away. Biting his lip, he reached to take hold of the small beam cannon OSCFB had been kind enough to equip Cerberus with, and began to charge it up.

James was trying to do the same. With a sudden burst of energy and swiftness, he set upon FutureMilliardo's suit with the Gundanium knife in his mech's arm, and finally managed to wedge the blade into a spot in the other suit's neck where it was not as protected. Nameless Clown Person Dude was thrust back as it gave a sharp jerk of its arm, and the knife snapped off, embedded in FutureZechs's suit.

FutureMilliardo swore as he struggled to get his suit under control, wincing as electricity snapped around him.

James whipped out his own beam cannon and began to charge it up as well.

"For the colonies!" Sandy crowed as he took aim at FutureNoin's near-helpless suit.

"For my life!" James echoed frantically, jabbing the cannon in FutureMilliardo's general direction.

Two beams of yellow light tore through space, heading straight for FutureZechs and FutureNoin.

"NO!" FutureHilde screamed in horror.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE PAST:

"Aaaahh!" Mariemaia shrieked, toppling out of her chair, "Scary lady!"

Sally gave her a look of disgust, then faced the vid-screen which displayed Dorothy's face. "What is it, Dorothy?" she growled. Behind her, Noin and Trowa drew close, their faces hard, hands hovering as if they wished to draw their weapons.

Dorothy's expression was serious. "No-time-for-petty-arguments,-human. First-of-all,-I-will-admit-to-being-your-enemy. It-has-been-my-goal-to-take-over-the-Earth-so-that-I-may-rule-it-as-my-own. I-found-one-who-was-willing-to-assist-me,-one-who-had-plans-of-his-own-but-who-would-have-been-happy-to-be-my-ally-for-the-time-being. This-is-the-one-you-call-Zechs-Merquise."

"What have you done with him?" Noin hissed. "Were you the one who kidnapped him?!"

"No. I-had-nothing-to-do-with-his-disappearance. He,-having-come-across-two-Gundanium-mobile-suits-I-belive-you-are-familiar-with,-called-the-Wing-Zero-and-the-Epyon,-has-been-overshadowed-by-them,-one-of-the-reasons-I-found-him-such-a-fitting-ally. However,-I-have-discovered-a-plot-which-not-only-you-will-be-frantic-to-put-a-stop-to,-but-which-undermines-my-own-plans-as-well."

"What's he going to do?" Trowa asked guardedly, suddenly much more worried than before. If Zechs was planning something so bad that even _Dorothy_ would turn to them for help, it must be very, very bad indeed.

"He-wishes-to-completely-destroy-the-Earth-in-order-for-the-colonies-to-come-under-his-control,-a-goal-similar-to-the-one-he-had-in-your-earlier-'Eve-Wars.' As-such,-he-also-has-a-similar-plan-to-carry-it-out."

"Why am I not surprised?" Noin burst out in frustration. She flung out her arms expressively and collapsed into one of the purple chairs. "This entire thing is so _ridiculous_ it makes me sick."

"I-have-contacted-the-Wonkan-mothership,-and-will-be-heading-out-directly-to-encounter-the-colony. I-am-counting-on-your-full-support-in-stopping-this. Afterwards-we-will-be-free-to-fight-each-other-again."

Sally nodded. "I get what you're saying. Until the colony's blown up we're allies, but afterwards we go at each other's throats again, right?"

"Correct. I-will-sign-off-now,-since-there-is-much-to-do."

Trowa sighed as the vid-screen went blank. "Never a dull moment. Come on, we've got to find the others. We're going to need a LOT of help."

"So _that's_ where Milli's been all this time!" Relena said happily. She was sitting on Lady Une's desk, swinging her feet back and forth as Mariemaia chased a butterly around the room.

"YES, Relena, that's where he's been all this time," Noin snapped. She jumped to her feet and drew her gun, heading for the door. "Come on guys, let's go. Relena, Marie, STAY HERE."

"Okay," they chorused as Sally and Trowa went to follow Noin.

Just as Noin was reaching for the door's handle, it flew open to reveal Colonel Une in her ridiculous getup, pointing a gun right into the lieutenant's face. "Preventers! I have finally found you! Trowa Barton, Gundam pilot 03, I will kill you in accordance with the orders of my darling Treize-sama!"

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

FutureZechs yanked back as hard as he could on the controls, and Tallgeese shot toward FutureNoin. He slammed into her and they dove out of the line of fire, just a second before it roared past them. Everyone watched in amazement as the two shots went right through the empty space where the original targets had been, and went on to slam straight into the heart of the OSCFB space fortress, which had been drifting behind them.

Everyone was watching; even Heero and Christy had stopped their battle as the base of the Outer Space Colony Freedom Bureau started to glow white-hot for a split second, then exploded.

Horrified, Sandy zoomed in front of his mother's Taurus, trying to protect her more fragile suit from the blast, as James and FutureMilliardo threw themselves in the way of FutureNoin.

Finally the heat and silent thunder began to subside, and the blinding light started to fade. Many of the OSCFB suits had been destroyed in the blast, and those of Sandy, James, Chelsea, FutureNoin, FutureMilliardo, and FutureHilde were all but useless from the damage they had sustained. The other Preventers slowly made their way toward them, and the few remaining enemy Leos started to realize their defeat and tried to escape.

"Come on, Christy," FutureHeero murmured, and the two of them shot off to take care of what was left of the enemy.

"Are you guys okay?" FutureQuatre exclaimed breathlessly. Sandrock, Heavyarms, and Dragonfire hurried over to where the others were.

"We're okay, I think, but our suits are pretty much busted," FutureMilliardo answered, pulling at unresponding controls. "We'll probably need help getting home. Someone had better contact Une."

"Roger," FutureTrowa said, activating his commlink.

"All right now, young man, I think you and your friends have time to explain yourselves," FutureHilde's voice growled.

Sandy gulped. "Mom...um..."

"It was a simple plan, really," James cut in smoothly, and Sandy relaxed his painful grip on the controls of his unmoving Gundam. "Not even original at all; I'm surprised you all haven't figured it out yet. Especially you, Dad."

"Wait a minute," FutureMilliardo said, "You mean you pretended to join OSCFB as a cover to destroy them from the inside?"

"Yeah," Sandy joined in, seeing where James was going now. "Really smart, huh? We came up with it when we were rescuing James."

"All right," FutureHilde sighed finally, "I guess I understand."

"How long is it going to take for the transports to get here?" FutureNoin grumbled, restless in her broken mobile suit.

"Shouldn't be too long," came FutureHeero's voice as he and Christy flew over. "The rest of us can probably haul you guys part of the way. We've captured the remains of the enemy mobile suits, so we'll bring them back down to Earth too."

"I can't believe I failed my mission _again_," Christy muttered, tapping one foot impatiently. "I've got to train harder."

FutureHeero only smirked.

"But I don't get it," Chelsea said in frustration, "James, _you_ never said that we were gonna switch sides, I thought we were supposed to--"

Sandy winced as he caught a glimpse of James's intense glare.

"Yo, Chelsea, baby, it's okay," Sandy cut in hurriedly, starting to type in the words of a private message to Desert Rox. "You can, um, quit pretending now. The bad guys are gone, so it's over, and _we're the good guys_ now, okay?"

Chelsea stared at the words which flashed frantically across her vid-screen.

SHUT UP AND PLAY ALONG!!!!!

"Oh...okay."

FutureTrowa narrowed his eyes, but decided to say nothing.

to be continued...


	17. Part 17: Preventers, Unite!

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 17 - Preventers, Unite!**

"Just what we need," Noin fumed. "Une, GET OUT OF MY WAY!" She pushed roughly past the startled colonel and marched on.

"Hey!" Une yelled after her, "You can't do that! Come _back_ here and let me kill you!" Sally and Trowa watched as she ran off after Noin, glanced at each other, then shrugged and followed them.

"We need to find Duo and Hilde," Sally said as they walked. "Unfortunately, I don't know if they have their communicators with them. And you wouldn't happen to know where Wufei is, would you?"

Trowa opened his mouth to answer that he didn't know, then suddenly turned his head and stared, and then looked back at Sally and grinned. "As a matter of fact, I do."

"Father Heavyarms!"

They were now outside. Everyone looked in surprise to see Wufei running towards them.

"O great leader of SONC, I see you have returned! I have not found the Traitorous One yet, but I swear I shall exact punishment for what he has done! It is only just!"

Everyone was looking back and forth from Trowa to Wufei.

Trowa sweatdropped. "Um, Wufei, before I tell you that SONC is now gone and I am no longer its leader, let me give you one last order - DON'T YOU DARE LAY A FINGER ON QUATRE. Do you understand?"

Wufei blinked. "But--"

"Wufei. Brother Altron, whatever. I am your great leader, remember?"

Wufei sighed, looking sulky. "All right."

"All right. Now, SONC is gone and I am no longer its leader. So you can stop with all the Father Heavyarms stuff, okay?"

Wufei shrugged. "Okay. Now, I presume we are heading out to find Duo and Hilde, and to blow up the colony that's heading for Earth at this moment?"

Everyone stared at him.

"But...how did you _know_?!"

"I am Wufei! I know everything!"

"Well, it does make our job easier," Sally remarked.

---------------------------

Hilde frowned.

"What's up?" Duo asked, looking up from the telephone pole he and Quatre had been painting pink.

"My commlink." Hilde looked at the watch-like contraption on her wrist and pressed a button.

"Commlink...hey, I had one of those!" Duo exclaimed happily. He paused. "Before I died. The second time."

Quatre looked aghast. "You _died?"_

Duo nodded. "Yup! Don't you remember? Your little BUDDY WUFEI chopped my head off while you were WATCHING!" He smiled sweetly, though his eyes were flashing.

Quatre's face lit up. "Oooh! Guess what, guess what! The _exact same thing_ happened to my friend Duo! It was so AWFUL!"

Duo started banging his head against the telephone pole, which turned out to be a mistake since the paint wasn't dry yet.

Hilde was trying to ignore the guys behind her as Sally spoke over the comm.

_"...and Wufei's just joined up with us. We're heading right now for the hangar, and we're going to take a shuttle and meet up with Dorothy to try and destroy the colony before it hits Earth."_

"But isn't Dorothy the enemy?" Hilde said in confusion.

_"Yes, but for the moment she's on our side. FOR THE MOMENT. By the way, Hilde, do you have _any_ idea where Duo is? He's been missing ever since Lady Une got kidnapped."_

"Oh yeah, he's right here," Hilde said, pointing. "Look, Duo, it's Sally! They're gonna blow up a colony!"

"Cool! Hi Sally!" Duo said, waving.

"Hey, I know that lady!" Quatre said, and started waving too.

The little hologram of Sally's head looked shocked. _"QUATRE?!?! He's there too? Why didn't you _tell_ me!"_

Hilde shrugged. "I dunno. And by the way, we're your enemies now. We are the Candy Cane Confederation, and we have dedicated our lives to TURNING THE WORLD PINK!"

At their cue, Duo and Quatre jumped up and started doing a stupid little dance as they sang the CCC's jingle.

"When you're feeling depressed and everything is blue--"

"--then we've got the color that's just for you!"

"It's happy and cheery, and goes with anything, too!"

"When your mind's gone cuckoo, and you need a shrink--"

"--don't spend lots of money, listen and think!"

"Just dial the hotline number--"

Together, "--AND MAKE EVERYTHING PINK!"

They bowed, as Hilde clapped enthusiastically and Sally's holographic head looked like she had just witnessed a horrendous car crash.

_"DUO! QUATRE! HILDE!"_

"Yes?"

_"You-- you-- I'll deal with you later; just get over here!"_

Hilde shrugged. "Okay. Let's go, boys! Duty calls!"

"YEAH!" Duo and Quatre cheered, and the three of them skipped off to find the Preventers.

---------------------------

Zechs was laughing villainously as he watched the colony move closer and closer to the Earth from his view in Epyon. It and Wing Zero were up in space, anticipating the impact and the futile resistance of those pesky Preventers.

"Oooh, look! It's the Nerds!" he said. He reached out and pressed a button on his vid-screen that made the view zoom in on the ship flying toward them. The ship, oddly enough, was shaped and colored like a box of Nerds. The screen was suddenly filled with Dorothy's face.

"Stupid-puppet! I-NEED-the-Earth-intact-for-my-plan! This-was-not-in-our-contract!"

"Oh yeah?" Zechs returned, his eyes glowing yellow, "Well, neither was THIS!" He shot a blast from Epyon's beam cannon at the alien craft, then cackled as he watched it try to dodge.

Dorothy shrieked something nasty at him, then cut the transmission. She didn't have time to argue with the human when what she needed to concentrate on was stopping or at least slowing down the colony's descent.

"Preventers,-get-here-soon," she murmured anxiously.

---------------------------

"Are we ready to go?" Sally called over her shoulder. She strapped herself into one of the cockpit seats as Trowa did the same next to her.

_"Almost,"_ came Noin's voice over a comm on the control panel. _"We're just about ready for takeoff. I really don't want to leave without Duo and the others, though."_

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Trowa muttered.

"Why?" Sally exclaimed anxiously. "We've got enough to worry about! What's wrong?"

Trowa shrugged. "Nothing much, I just always wanted to say that." He quailed as Sally gave him a thunderous look.

"Hey, _look_! An entire SHUTTLE that's not pink!"

Sally and Trowa peered through the glass down to the floor of the hangar, where the Candy Cane Confederates were now standing and talking excitedly.

"Did you bring the paint?" Hilde urged, and Quatre handed her and Duo a bucket and brush each before taking a set for himself.

"FORGET about that, we have to go!" Noin's voice shouted over the comms, and they looked up, startled.

"But--"

"NOW!"

The three trudged sulkily over to the ramp that led up to the shuttle. Hilde climbed up first, followed closely by Duo, but just when Quatre had set foot on the incline behind them:

"Quatre Raberba Winner! So, I have found you at last!"

"What now?" Sally moaned.

Trowa's eyes widened. "Catherine? What are you doing here?"

The lovely circus-performer stood in a magnificent pose at the entrance to the hanger, one hand holding an array of knives, the other holding a blade poised to be thrown at any moment at Quatre's golden head.

"Quatre, you nearly killed my brother. For that, I will DESTROY you!"

"Later, Cathy," Trowa said desperately, "We have to go save the Earth again. We'll come back in a few hours. Quatre, get IN HERE!"

Torn, Quatre looked from Catherine to the shuttle entrance, but then the start of the countdown nudged him into action. With a wave at Catherine, he scampered up the ramp and disappeared inside the closing hatch.

A minute or so later, the shuttle blasted off to save the world, leaving Catherine fuming behind in the billowing clouds of smoke.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

"It's good to finally be home," Sandy sighed as he climbed out of Cerberus. He floated down to the floor of the Gundam hangar where everyone else was gathering.

"Great job out there, everyone." FutureUne was coming towards them, smiling a tired smile and followed by FutureSally and FutureDorothy.

Chris pulled his arms up over his head to stretch, feeling suddenly tired. "Now all that's left is to rescue Dad and Uncle Duo from the Nerds and destroy the aliens."

Sandy scowled at the reminder and kicked at the floor, hands stuck in his pockets.

"I wish this was all _over_," FutureNoin sighed, leaning back against FutureMilliardo.

"So do we all," FutureSally agreed. "Come on, let's go home. We'll need to get some rest before we take on the Nerds after all this. I'm assuming they'll be a hard force to reckon with, especially if they have two hostages."

FutureHilde shivered a little at the realization of that possibility. "Duo...I wish he was back."

"Yeah, whatever," Sandy muttered. "Let's just go."

His mother's eyes were sad as she watched him walk away.

---------------------------

At the Bartons' residence, a familiar figure glided up the sidewalk and paused in front of the house. FutureDuo smiled, then held out his hand. The garage door slowly pulled itself up until it was completely open, despite the absent force of any human hand upon it. Then Duo pulled the stolen garage door remote, which was clinking against the stolen car keys, which all hung on the same stolen key-ring, out of his sleeve where he had hidden it, and stuck it into his pocket.

Some distance behind him, FutureWufei watched with narrowed eyes as he disappeared inside the garage. "What-are-you-up-to,-Maxwell?" FutureWufei muttered, hurrying toward the house. Then he suddenly froze, listening. The sound of a car... He quickly darted around the side of the garage, out of sight.

James frowned, leaning forward to get a better look out the window. "Hey, Dad, you didn't leave the garage door open earlier, did you?"

FutureTrowa frowned. "No, I didn't."

FutureNoin glanced at them, then pulled the car over. Behind them, FutureHilde pulled over as well (the Maxwells lived just a few houses down from the Bartons). Everyone got out and FutureHilde hurried toward them, looking worried.

"What is it?" she called, Sandy trailing behind her.

"Someone might have broken into our house," FutureTrowa answered shortly, still watching the open garage door as he reached for his gun. "I'm positive I didn't leave the door open like that, but there it is."

"Doesn't look like it was actually broken into--" FutureNoin started, but then suddenly stopped, a strange expression on her face. "Trowa, do you remember when you couldn't find your car keys earlier? Before we went out to fight? They must have been stolen before that, but you thought you just misplaced them."

"I had the house keys and the garage door remote on that key-ring too," FutureTrowa remembered. "I think you're right. Come on Noin, Hilde. You boys stay here."

Sandy sighed, flipped his braid off his shoulder, then flopped down onto the sidewalk. "It's just a garage door. What's the big deal?"

James glanced at him, then rolled his eyes and went back to watching the adults approach the house. Sandy started playing with the cross that hung around his neck.

However, he looked up with a shocked expression when he heard his mother's cry.

"DUO?!?!"

to be continued...


	18. Part 18: Destruction Of the Colony

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 18 - Destruction Of the Colony**

Dorothy gave a little yelp of frustration as she tried to make the rather large, slow-moving Nerd ship dodge the blasts from Zechs's Gundam. "Will-you-cut-it-out-already,-human?!"

"No! Neener neener neener!" Zechs cackled, blowing her a raspberry.

"For-crying-out-loud,-where-_are_-those-Preventers?"

_"Right here, Dorothy!"_

The blonde fell back with a sigh of relief as she finally spotted the Preventers' ship heading towards them.

_"Dorothy, Dorothy!"_ Quatre's excited voice came over the commlink. _"I remember you! We were BEST FRIENDS!"_

"Yes,-Quatre," she said tiredly. "And-guess-what? We-were-also-MARRIED! Remember-that,-Quatre?"

"Really? Cool!"

"Enough chatting," Sally said. They were now traveling alongside Dorothy's ship. "Zechs, you will PAY for what you are doing! Get him, boys!"

Silence.

"Sally," Noin said finally, her voice quiet with suppressed fury, "We forgot the GUNDAMS. How are they supposed to fight?!"

"Yeah!" Duo chimed in, before reaching out to dab a spot of pink paint onto her nose.

"But, they're the G-boys!" Hilde said. "They can defeat ANY enemy!"

"Hilde, we _don't have our Gundams!"_ Trowa stormed. "There's no way we can do anything to Epyon in this thing!" He banged the control panel in frustration.

Dorothy had regained her voice. "Stupid-humans! I-_knew_-I-shouldn't-have-trusted-you-with-such-an-important-matter! Do-I-have-to-do-_everything_-myself?"

"Oh yeah? Well, where's _your_ Gundam, then?" Noin shot back, trying to ignore Zechs's annoying peals of laughter in the background.

"Right-here!" A hatch in the alien ship opened, and something came out: a giant Gundanium Nerds candy box.

For a minute or so everyone floated there and looked at the "Gundam."

"And," Noin once again broke the silence, "is it supposed to _do_ something now?"

"It...hasn't-been-tested-quite-yet," Dorothy muttered.

"Oh, PERFECT!"

Wing Zero chose this moment to raise its beam cannon and blast a huge hole in the Gundanium box.

For a minute or so everyone floated there and looked at the smoking reamains of the "Gundam."

"I hate you," Noin said calmly.

"I have an idea!" Quatre suddenly burst out. Everyone looked to him gratefully. "Let's paint Zechs PINK!"

Duo and Hilde cheered at this suggestion, but everyone else just stared at Quatre with disbelief etched on their faces.

"Quatre," Trowa said finally, "I am going to hit you."

Quatre gasped. "No! How mean!" He jumped out of his seat and hid behind Hilde.

Trowa slumped back and sighed.

"So, Preventers, Miss Nerd, have you figured out how you're going to stop me yet?" Zechs asked gleefully.

There was a snort of disgust, and everyone looked towards Wufei, who had been silent thus far. "Weaklings! Let ME handle this!" He marched over to Sally and shoved her out of the way, then pressed a button. A huge metal fist suddenly popped out of the front of the Preventer ship and slammed right into Zero, then into Epyon. It knocked them out and left Zechs sitting stunned inside his unresponsive Gundam.

"Oooh, look!" Colonel Une squealed, on her knees on her seat as she pressed her face to one of the small, round windows. "Fireworks!"

Sally and Noin looked horrified. That didn't sound good.

"Oooh, WHERE?!" Hilde and Quatre shrieked, jostling Une and each other so that they could see out the window. "Pretty!"

"The colony!" Sally gasped, catching a glimpse of the scene from out of another window. "It's entered the Earth's atmosphere!"

"And the 'fireworks' must be SPARKS caused by the FRICTION between the COLONY and the ATMOSPHERE!" Duo exclaimed, snapping his fingers and looking as if he had just made a grand discovery. "I'm a _genius!"_

"Brilliant deduction," Noin said scathingly. "How do you turn this thing around? We have to stop that colony!"

"Fools!" Dorothy shrieked, not helping the situation any, "To-have-been-distracted-by-that-idiot-Zechs! Now-my-planet-is-ruined!"

"Well, I didn't see _you_ doing anything to stop it from falling," Trowa shot back. "And since when has it become YOUR planet?"

"Just shut up already," Noin growled, finally managing to turn the ship all the way around and start heading for the colony.

"There's no time," Sally said despairingly. "We can't stop it."

"What's _happening_?" Une gasped breathlessly, and on either side of her Quatre and Hilde oohed and aahed.

The ship slowed, and everyone stared in amazement. The colony was...

Melting.

"NO! My evil plan is ruined!" Zechs shrieked, banging on the controls, but Epyon was still not moving.

"I can't believe it!" Noin exclaimed, "A huge colony like that..."

Within a few minutes, the entire colony had burned up in the Earth's atmosphere.

Everyone floated and stared, not knowing what to say.

"Well...guess we're done, then," Trowa said finally, and everyone exchanged looks of helpless amazement.

Wufei shrugged. "Apparantly so. Well then, let us be off!" His fingers danced around the control panel, and cords shot out with things at the end that attached to Zero and Epyon and began to drag them back to Earth, as Dorothy and the Preventers headed back home.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

Sandy instantly shot to his feet and dashed forward. He pushed between FutureTrowa and FutureHilde, then stopped and stared.

FutureDuo stood in the middle of the garage, smiling at them all. "Greetings, fellow Earthlings," he said coolly. "Alexander, I thank you."

Sandy blinked.

"The last time we met, you inspired me to break free of my bonds, therefore I am no longer under the control of the Nerds. Thus, I have discovered what is truly important to me, what matters more than anything else in this universe."

FutureHilde choked back a sob and took a step forward, but was startled when FutureDuo suddenly turned and flung his arms around FutureTrowa's motorcycle, which was parked just behind him.

"Behold, the Belovéd One!" FutureDuo cried. "For days I have dreamed of this moment. Finally, I have found you, my love!"

Everyone stood and stared in silence as FutureDuo cuddled the motorcycle, caressing its sleek edges and whispering lovingly to it.

A look of absolute fury was starting to creep over FutureHilde's face. "Why, you...you... DUO MAXWELL! YOU WANT A 'BELOVÉD ONE'?! I'LL _SHOW_ YOU A BELOVÉD--"

She started to march forward, but FutureTrowa caught the back of her jacket. Everyone was surprised when someone else suddenly pushed roughly through them to enter the garage, strode quickly up to FutureDuo, and drew his katana, which he held over the vulnerable FutureDuo's head.

"Uncle Wufei!" Sandy cried, his eyes widening, feeling like he was about to collapse.

FutureWufei smirked. "That-is-correct. We-were-starting-to-get-suspicious-of-Maxwell-here,-but-I-see-now-that-he-poses-no-threat. However,-I-am-glad-that-I-came-here-anyway. Come-here,-boy."

Sandy took a step back, amazed, as FutureWufei's eyes bored into him. "What? Why me? What's wrong with Dad?"

"You,-young-Maxwell," FutureWufei said softly, "have-something-that-we-want. Come-HERE! Or-your-father-will-suffer-the-consequences!" He lay the blade of the katana threateningly against FutureDuo's neck. FutureDuo didn't seem to notice, as he continued to stroke the handlebars of the motorcycle.

Sandy gave a little growl, but had no choice. He slowly crossed over until he was standing near FutureWufei. "What do you want?" he asked in a low voice, his expression hard.

"Young-Maxwell," FutureWufei returned in an equally low and intense voice, "You-are-The-One- — -the-one-of-the-legends-who-possesses-the-Great-Power."

Sandy felt light-headed. "Great...Power...?"

"Is there something you haven't been telling me?" FutureHilde demanded. "I _knew_ I should've searched your room again!"

"What?!" Sandy screeched, whirling to face her. "You've been digging through my stuff?!"

"Do we really need to stay here?" James suddenly interrupted, looking bored.

"Doesn't look like it," FutureTrowa said with a shrug. "Come on in Noin, Hilde; you can stay for dinner."

He walked over to FutureDuo and took back his keys, then went over to unlock the door. He went in, followed by James and FutureNoin, and after arguing a bit more with Sandy, FutureHilde reluctantly went in also.

"Now,-young-Maxwell,-we-are-alone," FutureWufei said in satisfaction. "Come-with-me. We-can-rule-the-universe-together,-as-uncle-and-nephew."

Sandy rolled his eyes. "If I didn't go for that the first time, what makes you think I'm gonna join you now?"

FutureWufei looked disappointed. "All-right,-then,-have-it-your-way. We-shall-take-your-power-by-force,-if-we-must." He held up a little box, which started to glow. "Hold-still,-boy. It-will-be-over-soon."

Sandy's eyes widened and he turned to run. He'd hardly taken two steps, however, when a beam of light shot out of the box and struck him, and he screamed as it seemed to fill him with searing heat. It felt like he was being completely drained. FutureWufei threw back his head and laughed an unnatural, Nerdy laugh as the box he held began to absorb Sandy's hidden powers.

"...and then we'll go to a nice little shop, and buy a nice new can of pretty blue paint, and then we'll paint you up so pretty and nice," FutureDuo said happily, petting the handlebars as if they were a dog's head, and then he paused. "No, not blue...PINK! Yes, the color should be pink," he said in satisfaction, then continued talking to the bike.

Sandy grunted a little, trying to steady himself, wincing from the pain. He had to fight back. He couldn't let the Nerds get whatever these powers of his were. "Stop it!" he yelled, feeling faint as the light continued to suck out his strength. "Uncle Wufei, please..."

"I-am-not-your-uncle! I-am-a-Nerd! Do-not-address-me-as-a-pitiful,-disgusting,-weak-human!"

"Uncle Wufei, I sure hope you're seething mad somewhere in there, wherever you are," Sandy muttered, knowing that the Uncle Wufei he knew wouldn't stand to be so insulted. Perhaps his enraged uncle was trying to fight back against the aliens' control even now, just like his father had.

"And then we can go chase tricycles!" FutureDuo exclaimed happily, completely oblivious.

Sandy gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes, and his hands clenched into fists. He _had_ to fight back, he couldn't let the Nerds control him like this. Concentrating hard, he reached deep inside his mind, trying to find the powers that the Nerds wanted so badly. There...

He let out a great shout. FutureWufei yelled and stumbled back, throwing a hand up in front of his eyes, as the alien light which shone through Sandy's body became unbearably bright and then seemed to explode. When FutureWufei looked up again, he saw the boy standing there facing him, a deadly look on his face. Sandy was glowing with power, and he let himself float up a few inches into the air, so that he could look down at his stunned adversary.

"Listen to me, invaders," he said in a strange voice, "I will not let you take control of my powers, I will not let you harm this planet, but most of all, I will not let you hurt the people I love. Release Chang Wufei at once!"

FutureWufei snarled. He snatched up his dropped sword and lunged, but the katana passed right through Sandy's otherworldly body. With a shout of rage, FutureWufei spun around to face him again and brought up his hands for a blast. Sandy barely had to close his hotly-glowing eyes in order to block the attack.

"No!" FutureWufei gasped, "This-cannot-be! The-Maxwell-boy-has-awakened-too-early. I-cannot-obtain-his-powers!"

"Uncle Wufei," Sandy said softly, holding up his own hands, "Welcome back."

The garage was suddenly engulfed in a silent explosion of white light. FutureDuo looked up for a second, a surprised look on his face, and FutureWufei let out a last scream of rage before they were all consumed by Sandy's power.

---------------------------

On the street outside FutureTrowa's and FutureDuo's houses, a big black van with the word "PREVENTERS" plastered across the sides screeched up and ground to a halt. FutureLady Une, FutureHeero, and all the other future Preventers and the rest of the kids jumped out and started to hurry towards the Barton house.

"Dad!" Chris called, running ahead of the others with his mother close behind, but everyone was suddenly blinded by an explosion of light that burst out from the garage.

The light faded a few seconds later, and FutureSally cautiously raised her head, dropping the arm she had used to shield her eyes. "Wufei!" she yelled, and everyone hurried into the garage.

Sandy lay unmoving on the ground, and FutureDuo and FutureWufei stood over him, looking very confused.

"What happened?" FutureDuo asked in amazement, then looked down. "Sandy! Geez, you okay?" He knelt and grabbed Sandy's shoulder, shaking him in an effort to wake him up.

FutureWufei winced, then tilted his head to the side and started pounding on it. Three or four Nerds trickled out of his ear and dropped to the floor.

"Ewww!" Chelsea exclaimed.

FutureWufei started to look more furious and less confused. With a yell of anger, he started stomping on the little candies that had been controlling him for so long. "Take that, you weaklings! How dare you try to control Chang Wufei?!" The Nerds were now pink powder under his foot. Before he could yell at them any more, he was startled by his wife and son suddenly glomping him and trying to say a million things at once. "Ack! Emotional woman! Injustice!"

FutureTrowa poked his head through the door. "Is it over? Oh, hi guys. You came."

He stepped into the garage along with everyone else, and soon FutureHilde, FutureNoin, and James had joined them as well.

"Thanks for calling us, Trowa," FutureUne said, nodding. "Now we can tackle the Nerd problem without worrying about hostages."

Sandy cracked open his eyes, staring up into his parents' worried faces. "...Mom? Dad?"

"SANDY!" FutureHilde sobbed, throwing her arms around her son's neck and hugging him hard. "I was so _worried!"_

FutureDuo smiled in relief. "Glad you're back. Come to think of it, glad _I'm_ back." He glanced over at FutureTrowa's motorcycle and cringed. "Sorry, babe." He leaned over and gave FutureHilde a kiss over Sandy's head.

"All right," Christy said, getting down to business. "We have a mission now - destroy the Nerds. Before they destroy us."

"If we can get rid of those aliens, then we can save the Earth," FutureNoin said. "Let's go, everyone."

"Now?" Chelsea protested. "But we just got home! I'm HUNGRY! And cold and tired and lost and--"

"All _right_, Chelsea! We get it!"

to be continued...


	19. Part 19: DTO's Downfall

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 19 - DTO's Downfall**

The Preventers all stood on a hill, overlooking the two Gundams of the Zero Clan. Zechs was tied to a tree, screaming, but everyone tried to ignore him as Trowa and Noin each held up a detonation switch.

_Click_

"Bye-bye," Quatre said sadly as Zero and Epyon seemed to glow red-hot for a minute, then finally exploded. The group was battered by a violent glow of light, which cast wildly flickering shadows on the grass behind them.

As the sound and light of the explosions finally faded away, everyone silently stood and watched the smoking remains of the two Gundams, who would never come back again. By the tree, Zechs suddenly went limp for a minute, with only the ropes around him holding him up, and Noin turned to him.

"Ze...Milliardo?" she said cautiously, walking up to him. "Are you all right?"

He mumbled something, then raised his head and blinked up at her with confused eyes. "Ugh...Noin? 'S that you? My head hurts."

"MILLI!" she cried joyfully, flinging her arms around his neck. "You're back to normal! Now we can get married!"

"Huh?"

Trowa stepped forward to cut him loose, and soon Milliardo was free and staring at Noin, who was chattering away happily about what sort of wedding they would have.

"Hey!" Sally exclaimed all of a sudden, "What's that?" She pointed, amazed, and everyone looked.

Out of the billowing smoke that rose from the debris of the former Gundams, a figure had appeared and was stalking up towards them, a stony look on his face.

"IT'S HEERO!" Duo and Relena shrieked at the same time. Heero's eyes widened, but he had just barely started to turn to run before the two pounced on him so hard that all three were thrown to the ground.

"HeeroHeeroHeeroHeeroHeeroHeeroHeeroHeeroHeero!" Relena chanted, only pausing from time to time to shower his grimacing face with kisses.

"You're alive!" Duo said excitedly, jumping to his feet and grabbing his friend's hand to yank him up. "How'd you do it?"

"I'm the Perfect Soldier," Heero grunted. "I'm indestructible."

"Oh Hee-chan, I'm so happy!" Relena giggled, latched around his neck like one of those monkey toys with velcro paws.

Heero rolled his eyes.

Everyone had hurried over to them. Quatre was staring at Heero now with wide eyes.

His face lit up with recognition. "Oh my goodness - it's DUO! Duo my friend, you have come back to me at last!" He glomped him.

Heero's face looked furious as he stared down at the two leeches who were now hanging from his neck. "What is _with_ this? Can't a guy come back from the dead in peace?"

Duo was looking very annoyed. Grabbing Quatre's shoulder, he yanked him away and spun him around to face him. "Quatre, listen to me," he growled through gritted teeth. "Who am I? Do you recognize me? I'm DUO MAXWELL. Your friend, Duo. D-U-O. Do you understand? Not you, not nameless prisoner, not Duo-puppy, I'm DUO! GET IT?"

Quatre blinked. "Oh. So you are."

"ARGH!" Duo smacked himself on the forehead and stomped off.

TEN MINUTES LATER:

"But how did Zero and Epyon get activated in the first place?" Sally asked in puzzlement. "I thought they were destroyed."

Milliardo shrugged. "Well, you all thought I was dead when Libra blew up, right? But I had actually managed to survive. I was piloting Epyon at the time. That Gundam was actually the reason that I _did_ survive - it's a lot tougher than you would imagine. I hadn't destroyed it, just hidden it away where I thought no one could find it. And, if you remember, Heero hadn't self-destructed Zero either, like all the rest of them. It got really banged up from that last battle, but it was still repairable. I'm starting to get the idea that only the self-detonation switch can truly destroy a Gundam."

"Or a well-aimed blast with a beam cannon," Duo muttered darkly, shooting a glare at Trowa. His friend only shrugged, a little sheepishly.

And then--

A shadow blocked the sun. Everyone looked up in surprise as a huge rumbling sound began to shake the ground, and a familiar-looking spaceship passed overhead and paused directly above them. A hatch on the side opened to reveal Dorothy, still under the Nerds' control, dressed in a military uniform similar to what she had worn while still a member of White Fang.

"Preventers," her voice boomed out through an amplifier, "Don't-rest-so-easy-yet. We-are-not-finished-with-you!" Another figure appeared beside Dorothy, and everyone gasped. It was Treize.

"Dollies!" he squealed excitedly, pointing down at the little people below him.

Dorothy gritted her teeth, then grabbed his hand and jumped out of the ship, dragging him behind her. They slowed and stopped before they hit the ground, floating there before the stunned Preventers.

"Treize-sama!" Colonel Une shrieked, "You have returned to me!" She jumped up and hugged him around the waist in delight, hanging there until Dorothy rolled her eyes and made her able to levitate too.

"Une," she said angrily, "why-are-they-all-still-alive? I-told-you-to-destroy-the-Preventers-and-kill-the-Gundam-pilots!"

Quatre's eyes bugged out. "You DID?"

Une glared fiercely at her. "No you didn't! _Treize-sama_ did! I don't take orders from YOU!" She stuck her tongue out at Dorothy.

Dorothy forced herself to stay reasonably calm. "All right then, 'Treize-sama' told you to. Now if that is the case, WHY ARE THEY STILL STANDING THERE?"

Une gasped. "No! I have failed in my mission for my darling Treize-sama! Forgive me, master!"

"Do you want to play?" he asked, handing her a Barbie. Then, without waiting for an answer, he started making the dolls skip around and talk to each other.

Not seeming to notice, Une drew her gun and pointed it straight at Heero's head. "You, enemy of my dear Treize-sama, I will now execute you!"

Heero's lip curled. "If you think I'm going to let myself be killed again, Une, you're dead wrong." Whipping out his own gun, he fired off the shot before anyone could react.

Lady Une stared, then slowly reached up to touch her nose. Her eyes followed her shattered glasses as they fell to the ground: Heero had shot them off her face, and she hadn't even gotten a scratch. "Oh. Thank you, Heero."

Heero nodded, then walked over and stomped on the crushed glasses, just to make sure they could never be used for turning her schizo again.

Dorothy snarled, then raised her hand. Une yelped as she suddenly tumbled to the ground. "Traitor! But-that-does-not-matter-now. Treize-Khushrenada,-you-have-been-REALLY-getting-on-my-nerves,-but-now-it-is-time-for-you-to-return-to-being-my-ally!" Dorothy yanked a frying pan out of Hammerspace, pulled it back, and then whammed it into Treize's head.

He yelled, then floated there for a moment, unconscious. Then his eyes opened. He blinked around at all of them, then suddenly smirked. "Hah! I have returned, Preventers - and now, the world shall be MINE!"

"Nooooo!" everyone cried in horror and annoyance (mostly annoyance).

"I think I liked him better as the five-year-old," Duo muttered. "He didn't try to SHOOT ME then." He glared at Treize, who didn't seem to notice.

Dorothy smiled in triumph. "There-now,-Preventers. After-I-have-gotten-this-stupid-human-to-do-my-work-for-me,-I-shall-get-rid-of-him-and-then-the-Earth-will-be-MINE! Bwahahahahaha!"

Treize jerked his head around, staring at her in shock and growing anger. "What are you talking about, woman? You think I'm going to stand for that? Well, I won't! I am Treize Khushrenada!" He held up his hand to pull another frying pan out of Hammerspace, but nothing happened.

Noin smirked. "You idiot, only _females_ can do that."

"Don't call Treize-sama an idiot!" Une yelled, and hit her.

Noin glared. "I thought you weren't his drooling puppy anymore."

Une blushed. "Well...I still _like_ him, you know."

Looking furious, Treize finally just punched Dorothy in the face.

She reeled back in the air, her head snapping back, and something very small and pink fell out of her ear. "Ow..." Trying to regain her balance, she shook her head as if trying to clear it. "I'm...myself again!" At the realization that she was no longer an alien, she also came to the realization that she couldn't float anymore, and she and Treize abruptly dropped to the ground.

"Dorothy!" Quatre cried, hugging her. "Are you normal now, too?"

She looked around, digging a bit in the grass, then found the tiny Nerd and held it up. She smiled. "I'm fine now, Quatre-chan." Smushing the Nerd to powder between her fingers, she hugged Quatre back and gave him a kiss.

Treize was looking more and more mad. "So, I have lost my allies once again. But that's okay! Because you know what, Preventers? You WILL surrender Earth and the colonies to me. If you don't, I will--"

"_Don't_ say you'll drop a colony on us," Milliardo ordered. "Because if you do, I _will_ shoot you."

"Shoot me?" Treize said indignantly. "Your best friend since first grade?"

"Friend? Since when do friends fight wars against each other, or steal each other's life's work?!"

"Life's work?"

"Sixth grade. _Study of Masks in Dumas_."

"That was a glorified book report!"

Wufei narrowed his eyes and stepped forward. "Enough of this. Treize," the Chinese boy said, his black eyes sparking, "I will not allow you to carry out your plans for destruction. In the name of justice, I will stop you!"

Treize sneered. "Oh yeah, Katana Boy? How?"

"I will throw you into the lake!"

"What?!"

Without further ado, Wufei picked up Treize and flung him into the lake that was conveniently nearby, saving the world yet again from yet another villain.

"Yay!" everyone cheered.

Then Sally cleared her throat, and marched up to Dorothy where she was cuddling with Quatre. "Dorothy Catalonia, we must still carry out our duty as Preventers. You formed an evil organization with our enemy Treize, tried to take over the world, and aided Zechs Merquise, another one of our enemies. I'm afraid that I will have to put you under arrest."

"Nooo! Dorothy!" Quatre wailed, clinging to his wife.

Dorothy looked at Sally calmly. "Well, I agree with you whole-heartedly, Sally, but are you going to arrest Milliardo, too?"

Sally looked confused. "No, it wasn't his fault. He was pretty much a prisoner of the ZERO system."

Dorothy smirked ever so slightly. "Well, then is it really fair that I be punished when he gets to go free? After all, I was not acting of my own volition, either."

"Yeah! It was the Nerds's fault," Quatre defended.

Sally took a step back. "Well...I guess you're right. Never mind. I'm sorry, Dorothy."

Dorothy smiled. "No problem, Sally."

Sally smiled back, then walked off to go after Wufei.

Quatre looked up at his wife thoughtfully. "Yeah, but Dorothy...I thought the Nerds got you _after_ you decided to take over the world, not--"

"Sssh! Don't ever mention that to anyone again, okay Quatre?"

He shrugged cooperatively. "Sure."

They hugged again, as Dorothy grinned at Sally's back over Quatre's head.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE FUTURE:

"But how can we beat them?" FutureNoin asked in frustration. "I mean, come on, they're _aliens!"_

"There's got to be some weakness," FutureTrowa said firmly. "Every enemy has one, all we have to do is find it with the Nerds."

Sandy rolled his eyes. He was sitting in a chair in the Preventers' meeting room between his parents. "But I mean, they're just _candy_. Why can't we just...I don't know...eat them or something? Or even better, just ignore it."

"Ignore it?" FutureUne said in disbelief. "How can we ignore an alien invasion?"

"Well, just don't believe in them. I mean, even _I'm_ finding it hard to take it seriously. I don't really believe in Nerds."

There was a faint cry from outside. FutureSally frowned, then turned to look out the window. Her eyes widened. "Sandy," she said slowly, "say that again."

He looked at her, confused. "What?"

"Say that-- whatever you said. Say it again."

"I don't believe in Nerds?"

Another faint cry. A slow smile was staring to spread over FutureSally's face. "I don't believe in Nerds!" she yelled out the window, and was rewarded with yet another cry.

"What's going on?" FutureDuo demanded, getting up, and everyone migrated over to the windows facing the street.

"That's it!" FutureSally said excitedly, "Sandy hit on it! Watch. I DON'T BELIEVE IN NERDS!" she shouted again. Down on the street, someone cried out, then stood still, looking around in confusion.

"Come on," FutureLady Une ordered, and they all followed her as she hurried down the stairs and out of the building.

"Hey," FutureTrowa said, snatching the hand of a woman who was passing them, "I don't believe in Nerds."

The woman gasped, then jerked. Something small and pink fell out of her ear and dropped to the ground. She shook her head a little, then looked around in confusion. "Huh? What happened?"

"That's it!" FutureHilde yelled, then suddenly rounded on Sandy and glomped him. "I love you, son!"

"Mom, get off!"

"It's just like in _Peter Pan!"_ Chelsea said excitedly. "Every time they said 'I don't believe in fairies--'" She paused. "Oops. Anyways, every time they said - that, - a fairy somewhere would drop down dead! Except now it's Nerds, not fairies!"

No one was really listening to her, since they were busy watching FutureRelena, Chris, and FutureWufei, who were dancing around screaming with great relish, "I don't believe in Nerds!" at the top of their lungs. Pretty soon, everyone else had joined them, and slowly, one by one, the Nerds fell.

TWENTY SOME-ODD YEARS IN THE PAST:

"QUATRE RABERBA WINNER!" Everyone looked up to see Catherine Bloom running into the clearing, her eyes alight with mad joy. "For what you did to my brother, I will now KILL YOU!"

"Oh no, not this again," Trowa groaned.

"Wait a minute," Zechs said suddenly. "Quatre, _you_ were the one who took my place as Chief Slave Of The Zero Clan, right?"

"And you chained me up and made me a prisoner!" Duo said indignantly. "Again," he added after a moment.

"Yeah, you were the reason SONC kidnapped Duo in the first place," Hilde said thoughtfully, her eyes starting to gleam.

"And you tried to assassinate Father Heavyarms!" Wufei joined in.

Quatre's face had turned white, and he was starting to take slow, careful steps backwards. "N-Now, guys..."

Duo grinned dangerously and drew his gun, as all the others were doing. "I _told_ you that an awful lot of people hate you, Quatre."

"That's right," Trowa finished grandly. "YOU, Quatre, were the one who knocked me crazy and eloped with Dorothy and inspired SONC and caused everything to happen in the FIRST PLACE! Get him!"

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" everyone shouted, charging, and Quatre screamed and started to run for his life.

TWO HOURS LATER:

Quatre was still running-- or rather, moving as fast as he could with his tongue lolling out and his feet dragging and his heart feeling like it was going to explode at any given second.

However, the mob that was chasing him was similarly exhausted, so that's all right.

"Don't...let him...escape..." Trowa wheezed. He made a faint effort to pull ahead, but only ended up collapsing. Heero stopped, the least affected by the two hours of straight running, and raised his gun. Quatre also collapsed, and lay on the ground, unable to move and panting hard. Slowly, over the next ten minutes, everyone else managed to drag themselves over and surround him.

"No hard feelings, Quatre," Heero said, and started to pull the trigger.

All of a sudden, everyone heard a whole bunch of stomping noises - as if an army of mobile suits was heading their way. Quatre slowly, painfully, managed to raise his head up just a tiny bit.

"Mag...an...acs..." he gasped, his eyes lighting up with relief. "I'm...saved!"

"Quatre-sama!" Rashid's voice boomed, "I see that your life is in danger! Therefore, let me protect you!"

Everyone craned their heads to look up fearfully at the mobile suit which towered over them, its machine gun pointed straight at them. However, its pilot had other plans.

A cheerful, feminine voice started to sing over the commlink speakers. _"Dokoka e ikitai, dakedo doko e ikeba ii no ka..."_

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" everyone screamed, starting to run, but the sadistically happy voice continued to sing as if mocking them.

_"Wakaranai mama ni, kyou ga owatte iku yo ne...I'LL BE YOUR FRIEND!"_

Quatre slowly stood, looking around him in wonder. Everyone was spread out, halted in their escape, with dreamy looks on their faces. He smiled cautiously. His cheerful songs always seemed to have this calming effect. Having to put up with a happy Wufei or Heero was kind of scary, but the side-effects would wear off soon enough. By then he knew the Maganacs could "talk" them all out of wanting to kill him. But for now, best just to enjoy it while it lasted.

"Oh, what a beautiful sunset!" Duo said happily, starting to skip around and pick flowers. "There shall be peace on Earth and we will always be happy!"

"Yay!" Relena and Hilde cheered together, then they both giggled and started hopping after Duo.

"Let's have a picnic!" Noin called, and she whipped a huge tablecloth and a huge picnic basket out of Hammerspace, towards which everyone started to drift.

"Sally, you are so very pretty and strong and smart, and I just admire you so much," Wufei sighed contentedly, hugging her, and she giggled.

"Relena, you are so beautiful," Heero said with a goofy smile on his face, "I want to marry you!"

"Oh, Heero!" she gasped, then burst into another fit of giggling, "I thought you'd never ask!" She glomped him, and he glomped back, and they started kissing and snuggling together cutely.

Quatre watched as Une and Zechs started chasing each other around, pretending to be bunnies, and Catherine actually came over and petted his golden-yellow hair for a bit before kissing him on the cheek and bounding off to where Duo, Trowa, and Dorothy were eating. He watched, and he smiled at all the peace and happiness, and then he went over to get a sandwich too before Duo could polish them all off.

Life was good.

to be concluded...


	20. Part 20: Epilogue

_After the Eve Wars..._, by Raberba girl

**Part 20 - Epilogue**

Twenty some-odd years in the future, the sun had set and now night was descending upon that part of the world. It was peaceful. A light breeze rustled the leaves in the trees, and in houses, parents were putting their little children to bed. Street lamps started to glimmer on, shining brightly through the darkness.

However, among all this content, a group of heroes called the Preventers were wandering wearily through the streets, mumbling dully, leaving a trail of candy and confused people in their wake. It was going to be a long night.

"I don't believe in Nerds...I don't believe in Nerds..."

"I don't believe," pause for a yawn, "in Nerds..."

"I, Chang Wufei of the Dragon Clan, with the honor passed down to me by my respected ancestors, do not believe in Nerds..."

"Nerds...omae o korosu."

"I don't think that has the same effect, Uncle Heero."

"I don't believe in ALL Nerds!!!! Okay!!!! Did that work?!?!"

Pause.

"I don't think so, Duo."

"Aw..." A sigh. "I don't believe in stupid Nerds...I don't _believe_ in stupid Nerds..."

"I believe in Nerds! They are cute and tasty!"

"RELENA!"

"Well, they are."

"Daddy," Chelsea's voice started to wail, "I'm so _tired_...and cold and hungry and lost and lonely and thirsty and..."

Everyone groaned. It was _definitely_ going to be a long night.


	21. After the Eve Wars - Again

After the Eve Wars...Again

A Gundam Wing fanfic by Raberba girl

Author's Note: This is the beginning of a sequel to _After the Eve Wars..._ I was going to do, but I did not have the time or interest to finish it. It takes place about two years after the epilogue. **Permanently incomplete.**

**Part 1 - Preventers, Assemble!**

All the heroes of Gundam Wing were gathered in the big conference room of the Preventers' headquarters. Lady Une paced before them, looking grim. She had important news to tell them.

"Preventers, we have a new crisis. Another random evil organization is threatening to drop a colony on Earth if we don't surrender quietly."

Relena screamed and appeared to faint, then cracked an eye open to see if anyone had noticed her theatrics.

Duo gasped and nearly choked on his blueberry smoothie. "Oh no! That is such a bad thing!"

"You have blueberry smoothie all down your shirt," Hilde pointed out gleefully.

Everyone else broke into a loud babble of exclamations, comments, and questions.

"Who is this new organization?"

"Did Treize manage to crawl out of the lake?"

"How will we stop them?"

"Will we need the Gundams?"

"Everyone shut up, I'm trying to order a pizza here!"

"Pizza?"

"Oh, oh, get meat-lovers with extra chopped shrimp!"

"Ew, who eats chopped shrimp on their pizza?"

"I'm a vegetarian, get a cheese pizza for me!"

"Order garlic sticks, too!"

Lady Une slammed her hands down on the table. "Everyone SHUT UP!"

Everyone shut up.

"Hang up that phone!"

"Thanks, that'll be all, bye," Sandy Maxwell said rapidly, and cut the connection. The face of the confused pizza guy faded from the comm screen.

"Now." Une narrowed her eyes. "We are facing a new menace. They are called White Sock, based in the L3 colony cluster."

"L3. Why am I not surprised?" Trowa muttered.

"White Sock?" Sandy snickered. "What kind of name for an evil organization is that?"

"It's better than the Society of the Nanashi Clowns," Noin said slyly. She grinned in Trowa's direction, but he only stared stonily ahead.

"White Sock has demanded that the Preventers disband, and that we hand over the Gundams to them."

"Never!" Christy Yuy hissed possessively.

Quatre suddenly began to cry. "I wish I had a Gundam _to_ hand over. Wagh, Sandrock!"

Immediately almost everyone looked glum, remembering their old pals. When the mobile suits had realized they were supposed to have been blown up way back in Endless Waltz, they'd all gone away in a huff, so now Christy, Sandy, James, Chelsea, and Chris were the only ones left with mobile suits.

Une allowed a brief moment of glumness, then went back to business. "Now, I've called this meeting to brief you all, but also so that we may start planning a defense against White Sock. Eventually we will need to infiltrate the colony they've taken over and capture or kill their leaders-"

Heero suddenly stood up. The look on his face was alarming. "I thought we were finished," he growled. "First Operation Meteor and the Eve Wars, then the Mariemaia business, _then_ the mess with REO and DTO and OSCFB and SONC, and THEN the Nerds. Why won't it stop?!"

"Because the fans want the series to continue so they can keep watching their favorite bishounen in action?" Duo guessed.

"They _said_ in Endless Waltz that we didn't have to fight anymore!" Heero continued. "How much longer do I have to be a soldier? How many more times must I kill that girl and her puppy?!"

"Puppy?" said Quatre interestedly.

"What girl?" Relena demanded.

"What's Endless Waltz?" someone wondered.

Heero jumped onto the table and paced, waving his arms passionately. "I'm sick of wars! I'm sick of stupid people forming random evil organizations trying to take over the world! I quit! I'm going on strike!"

"Me too!" Relena said happily. "Just what I need to spice up my political image: a strike!"

Heero threw out his arms dramatically. "Come, my love, let us go on strike together!"

"Yes!" Relena ran into his arms and kissed him passionately, and then the two walked out of the room, grinning triumphantly.

"I'm not related to them," Christy said with a straight face. Chris Chang patted her shoulder in sympathy.

Sandy raised his hand for attention. "Here's what I propose. These White Sock dorks don't sound tough. Us kids'll go in, I'll clean 'em out with my superpowers, the other four can pick off the survivors, and all you old people won't have to lift a finger."

Hilde swatted at her son. "Someone around here has an inflated head."

Sandy stuck his tongue out at her.

"Well, even if we all can't be endowed with alien superpowers, the rest of us are still useful, I would hope, in backing you up should the need arise," Lady Une said dryly. "Noin, Sally, and the Gundam pilots will accompany you in the Preventers ships, while the Maganacs will try to find and retrieve all the old mobile suits. Zechs and I will attempt to gather more information about White Sock and its allies, and how they stand politically. I am placing James in charge of the main assault mission."

"Why James?" Sandy exclaimed indignantly. "The whole thing was my idea!"

"Because James Barton is, in my opinion, the only one of you kids with any sense," Une growled.

James grinned smugly at Sandy, who tried discreetly to shoot a static shock at him. He missed.

"Weakling," Chris said calmly.

"Shut up!"

"Heed your own advice, Maxwell," Une cut in. "Now James, if White Sock pulls _any_ surprises on you at all, if anything unexpected happens, I want you to retreat immediately. This is supposed to be a simple mission; we don't have enough information to be completely certain we're not underestimating the enemy."

"Understood, ma'am."

_"Understood, ma'am,"_ Sandy mimicked softly.

"And what do Dorothy and I do?" Hilde asked.

"You will, er...be in charge of refreshments."

"Yay!" Hilde cheered.

"_Hilde_ will be in charge of refreshments," Dorothy sniffed. "_I_ will lead the Maganacs."

The Maganacs all saluted. "Yes, Dorothy-sama!"

Dorothy grabbed her husband and kissed him with violent affection, then marched out of the room leading Quatre's little Arabian army. The rest of the Preventers dispersed soon afterward, to prepare for their respective missions.

_To be continued..._

**_After the Eve Wars...Again_****, a Gundam Wing fanfic by Raberba girl**

**Part 2 - Uncle Duo, Aunt Hilde, and Cousin Sandy**

Someone was waiting for the Maxwells as they drove up to their house and pulled into the driveway. That someone wasn't a sniper or an assassin.

It was an eight-year-old girl.

She jumped up from where she had been sitting with her luggage on the Maxwells' front porch and screamed, "AUNT HILDE, AUNT HILDE! UNCLE DUO! COUSIN SANDY! HI, HI, HI!"

"Oh no, not you!" Sandy gasped in horror.

Hilde threw open the car door, jumped out, and flung her arms wide. "Darling! What are you doing here? I'm so glad to see you!"

The little girl flew into her arms with shrieks of delight. They danced around wildly. "Aunt Hilde, Aunt Hilde! I've got lots to tell you! Hi!" Then she wrenched free, turned, and flung herself on Duo, who laughed and spun her around. "Hey, girl, we haven't seen you in, what, two years? Three? Man, you grew! And what did you do to your hair?"

Dana Schbeiker giggled and held out her long chestnut brown braid. It looked exactly like Duo's and Sandy's, except that the undyed roots of her hair were dark. "How do you like it?"

"It's cute," Hilde said, and kissed her niece on the forehead. "Now, where did Sandy go?"

"I think he fled to the house," Duo said. "He's probably hiding under his bed, hoping you won't think to look there. So, why are you alone? Your parents _do_ know you're here, right?" He gave her a significant look as he helped carry Dana's bags into the house.

Dana giggled. "Of _course_ they know, Uncle Duo, but I thought I'd surprise you."

"You certainly did that," Hilde said. "Sandy! Where are you?"

"Oh, let me!" Dana dashed down the hall into her cousin's room. "Cousin Sandy, Cousin Sandy!" She threw herself to her knees and peered under the bed.

"Go away!" Sandy yelled, his face a mask of horror.

"Don't be silly, Cousin Sandy." Dana grabbed his arm and dragged him out from under the bed. Sandy sighed, looking at Dana with a pained expression on his face.

Dana grinned mischievously and reached out to shake Sandy's hand, as if they were meeting for the first time.

"Hello, sir. My name is Dana Schbeiker."

"I know."

"I'm your cousin."

"I _know_."

"I'm going to stay here for two months, until school starts again."

"NO!" Sandy was horrified. "Two months?! It can't be!"

Dana only smiled and hugged him.

0-0-0-0-0

At lunch, Sandy glumly picked at his food and daydreamed that Dana had never been born. Hilde and Dana chattered to each other in German and Duo pretended he could understand what they were talking about.

*not to be continued*

A/N: I know how stupid this fragment is (I wrote it YEARS AGO), but I'm trying to streamline all my fanfiction accounts and realized that this was not on FFN yet. *sweatdrop*


End file.
